Selffulfilling Promises
by mariaC
Summary: Some promises can't be kept. Some people's lives just won't be okay. But when ancient enemies awaken, it seems like Rachel has to find this rule out the hard way. Previously called Spotlights, sequel to A Hidden Appearance.
1. Chapter 1

**IMPORTANT! THIS IS A SEQUEL! You don't have to read A Hidden Appearance first, but how knows, you might like it. **

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><p><strong>I also want to thank everyone that reviewed A Hidden Appearance.<strong>

**to sthrnpanther06: I'm sorry if I wasn't clear enough, the diary-entry was supposed to be years after the story, even after this story. But I am pretty sure it is Simms-Parry. Thank you for reviewing!  
><strong>

**to** **Midnightquiver: I'm really sorry for not answering your question. I just kept thinking 'Tomorrow, I'll upload that chapter, then I'll answer it'. Again, I'm really sorry. The song is called 'the last night' and it is by skillet. I'm really glad you liked the chapter so much, and thank you so much for reviewing. I hope this sequel is what you hoped for!**

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><p><strong>What couldn't be expected<br>**

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><p>The halls were completely dark, so dark you couldn't even make out a route. But the man that walked there didn't need to see to know the way. He knew exactly how many steps to make before he had to turn left, he knew exactly which path he had to follow through the maze. After all, this was his home. Not the place where he slept, or eat, or lived, but the place where he would meet his family.<p>

The turned left and entered the large room. As always, he took a second the slow his heartbeat down. It was a well known fact that the members who weren't welcome anymore wouldn't be updated on the new routes when they changed. And if you didn't walk the right way, you were a dead man. There was only one save way, all the others lead to nothing but death. But apparently, he was still welcome.

He walked to his seat without a word. There were about twenty men but none of them greeted him. They didn't even acknowledge his presence, but he was used to that. In this room there were no emotions, no feelings, not even names. But still these people were his family. Before you could get in the room, you had to leave everyone behind. Family, friends, people you once loved, you had to forget all about them. They weren't important anymore, and to prove that you had to pay the ultimate sacrifice. Your mother, father, brother, girlfriend… whoever you loved the most, you had to kill. He still remembered his sister laying on the floor, a pool of blood around her head, almost like a halo… But as her face appeared in his mind, he couldn't feel anything. He just didn't care anymore.

Other men walked in, but were ignored as well. They sat down and waited with their brothers, until finally, three men walked inside. They wore the exact same clothes as the other men, yet there was something different about them. Not something you could see, but you could feel it. They had build the building, they had chosen their followers… They were the council, stronger, faster and smarter than any other man.

They walked side by side, in the exact same tempo, in the exact same line. They made their way through the room and finally stopped in front of three chairs. They turned around, again at the exact same time, and they looked at their followers, who were now standing as well. Every eye was focused on the council, waiting for one of them to speak.

"Power was given." They said in synchronisation.

"Power was taken." The twenty-eight followers chanted.

"Wrong was done." The council spoke.

"It will be revenged." He replied with his brothers.

The three men sat down.

"We welcome our sons." They said.

"We honour our fathers." And so the meeting had begun.

"Two of our sons have been proven unworthy. But their loss shall not be the cause of any grieve, for we have found new sons to fill their places. Today they shall be initiated. Welcome them and take them in for they shall be your family as you are theirs."

"They shall be our brothers." The sons called as one. Then the fathers continued.

"Centuries ago we were the gods in this world. Until the men betrayed us and took our power from us. One year ago, three traitors returned to our land. And this year, we will have our vengeance."

"Justice shall be done." The sons chanted.

"It has taken us long to prepare ourselves. Now, we are stronger, faster and better than ever before. This year we will fight and we will conquer. Our power shall be ours once again. So tell us, our sons: Are you ready to fight for your fathers? Are you ready to bleed for your fathers? Are you ready to die for your fathers?"

"We will suffer until death takes us away to do your will!" The sons screamed now, jumping up from their seats. They all pulled a knife and held it against their forearm. "We will fight for you!" And they cut. Blood streamed down their arms on to the floor. And the fathers were pleased.

"Bring in the candidates." They commanded the person closest to their chairs. The man stood up and walked away, back through the deathly halls.

And so they waited, in complete silence, until their brother would return with the candidates.

The brother returned with the two men. He returned to his seat immediately, but the two candidates were left standing. At first they looked a bit nervous, but that changed as soon as they caught sight of the room. They straightened their backs and erased all emotion from their faces, as they had learned from the people that would be their brothers in a few minutes. Then they bowed their heads to make sure they couldn't see the fathers. Only the sons could see the fathers.

Side by side they took the final paces towards the chairs of the fathers, and they kneeled in front of them.

"We welcome you." The fathers chanted. The three candidates didn't once think about the answer. After all, they had cramped the entire protocol into their heads.

"We thank the ones we honour." They said in a loud, clear voice.

"You have done our will and pleased us. Now you will have your reward. Are you ready to become our sons?" The fathers asked.

"We are, honoured ones."

"Are you ready to let go of everything but the things we give you?"

"We are, honoured ones."

Then the fathers looked away from them, taking in their sons.

"And are you ready to accept these men as your brothers?"

"We are, honoured fathers." The sons chanted.

"Then let your blood and our blood be one!" The fathers commanded the candidates. The two men jumped up from the floor. Two brothers jumped up from their chairs and walked forward, each handing a knife to one of the candidates. The men accepted them with a light bow and then they held the knifes against their right forearms. Mean while, the fathers had taken their own knifes and did the same. All five of them pressed the knife against their arms until a stream of blood appeared. Then the sons walked forward, still not looking at the fathers, and held out their bleeding arms. One by one, each father allowed a drip of their blood to fall on the arms of the candidates. Their blood mingled and finally the two men were allowed to look up.

And for the first time, they saw their fathers.

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><p>"Rachel, I swear I've never met anyone who could cook like this. How do you do it?" Rachel laughed, while trying not to look at Reid, who seemed to be trying to finish his plate in one bite.<p>

"I don't know what you're talking about, Liz. I just follow the recipe. How hard is that?" Lizzie groaned softly and shook her head.

"I don't know what went wrong. I mean, I did exactly what is said, but somehow it still burned."

"Did you stir?" Tyler joined in the discussion. Lizzie nodded.

"Yeah, well, Reid did anyway." Her eyes widened when she finally realized where she had made the mistake. "You did stir, right, Reid?" Three pair of eyes turned to Reid, who didn't look very intelligent at the moment, since he was stuffing his mouth with spaghetti. When Lizzie said his name, he immediately froze and stared up at her with a guilty expression.

"Reid!" She called out, her eyes voice filled with unbelief. "I told you three times!" Reid stared at her, his eyes filled with innocence.

"Chelsea Charms was on TV! Did you know her breast each way 26 pounds?" He defended himself. Lizzie stared at him in unbelief.

"Oh yeah, I heard that too." Tyler said. "What channel was it on?" Rachel rolled her eyes and slapped her boyfriend against the back of his head.

"Stay out of it, sweetheart, and let Lizzie and Reid fight it out." She told him, while taking Brian out of his seat.

"Play mommy." They little kid called out, immediately ending the argument between Reid and Lizzie by dragging all the attention to him. Rachel smiled lovingly at her son while carrying the kid to his room. A few weeks ago, Reid had given him a box of bricks for his birthday and it had soon turned out to be his favourite toy, so it wasn't a real big surprise when he immediately crawled towards it when Rachel put him down. She looked at him for a while, making sure he was alright, and then returned to the living room, where the diner table was.

"He's getting so big." Lizzie laughed, absolutely adoring her 'nephew'. Reid grinned.

"You just saw him yesterday, Liz. There's no way he has grown since then." Lizzie completely ignored her boyfriend. "But he does love that box, doesn't he? I knew he would." Reid grinned proudly. Rachel laughed and nodded.

"Alright Reid, I'll say it. You're the best uncle in the world. Happy now?"

"Very much so, thank you." Reid answered. They all laughed. Then Rachel walked towards the table and started to clear the table. Tyler immediately jumped up and pushed her back on her chair.

"I'll do it." He smiled. "You relax for a second." Rachel smiled up at him, her eyes filled with love. Lizzie turned around, facing Reid, lifting her eyebrows. Reid sighed softly and nodded.

"Alright, I'll help." He kissed Lizzie on the cheek and then followed Tyler's lead. Lizzie smiled and turned back to Rachel.

"It's amazing, right? I mean, if you had told me five years ago that his would happen, I would've never believed you." Rachel smiled and nodded.

"I know what you mean." She answered in a whisper, while her memories took control of her thoughts.

Three years ago, she had been a nobody. She had no friends, her parents hated her and her brother rarely acknowledged her existence. That had all changed after she had met Nelson brothers, Simon, Max and Mark. They had invited her to a party in Boston, after which she had met their friends, who had quickly became her friends as well. Simon and Max were in a dance crew, while Mark drummed in a band. Rachel had quickly became a part of the dance crew, and had even sung with the band a couple of times. It had been some awesome times.

But her life had changed even more after her brother Pogue suddenly seemed to remember he had a little sister, and tried to act more normal to her. His friends, Caleb, Reid and Tyler, immediately followed his lead, and so did Pogue and Caleb's girlfriends, Kate and Sarah. And since those six sort of formed the popular crowed in their school, Rachel had suddenly found herself in the spotlights. Something that, as it turned out, wasn't an completely good thing.

One day, January the fifth, Rachel was attacked by three classmates while walking home. They had raped her, tortured her and then left her in the woods, where she had laid for hours until her brother, his friends and her friends had found her and taken her home. After a couple of dark weeks, in which she had tried to kill herself, discovered she was pregnant, and being slapped by her father while her friends were watching, things had started to get better. She started dating a boy named Chase Collins, got closer to her brother and managed to get away from her parents. And on top of that, she suddenly had a lot of friends who had proven they'd always be by her side. There was Reid, who almost became her second brother, Caleb, who was an awesome friend, Sarah and Kate, who were the best friends anyone could have, Lizzie, who was the big sister that was ready to kick the asses of everyone that tried to hurt her…. And Tyler. Tyler was a completely different story, since Rachel really hadn't really known what was going on between the two of them. One second, he was her best friend and then he suddenly seemed unable to talk to her. It was really weird, especially since she had a huge crush on him.

During the trials against the three rapists and her parents, her friends had given her enough strength to survive. But somehow, luck just didn't fit her. Chase had turned out to be an evil warlock, wanting to kill Pogue, Caleb, Reid and Tyler. She had known about the existence of magic for a long time then, since her brother and his three friends had been warlocks as well, but none of them knew that Chase was a warlock too. So that had come as quite a shock.

Chase had kidnapped Rachel, claiming he loved her. After killing everyone who had ever hurt her, meaning her parents and the three rapists, he had explained everything. About how he was the descendant of one of the five families that had magic. Caleb, Pogue, Reid and Tyler had been descendants of the other four. Chase's ancestor, John Putnam, was killed in the witch hunts. He had wanted more power and had endangered the other families that way. So he was betrayed. Before he had died, however, he had managed to impregnate a woman. And so the magic had lived on, all the way to Chase, who wanted revenge.

Before Chase had the change to do anything, however, Pogue and Caleb had found and defeated him, thereby saving Rachel. Admitting his defeat, Chase had given his power to Brian, Rachel's unborn baby. A warlock can not survive without his power, and so Chase had died.

Life had been surprisingly easy after that. Rachel had started dating Tyler, and had fallen hopelessly in love with him. Reid had dropped his playboy act by taking Lizzie out and becoming her boyfriend. After graduation Rachel, Tyler, Lizzie and Reid had moved to New York to study there. At first, she and Lizzie had shared an apartment, while Reid and Tyler lived next door, but that hadn't lasted for long. Reid kept calling Lizzie in the middle of the night. Tyler usually fled to Rachel's apartment then, and Reid and Lizzie had finally decided to just move in together, after which Tyler and Rachel's choice had been made pretty easily. That had been almost a year ago. Rachel now was in her first year of college, since she had spend the previous year taking care of Brian. Tyler, Lizzie and Reid were in their second year.

"I can't believe Reid burned the food." Lizzie muttered angrily. Rachel laughed.

"I can't believe you thought you could leave the stirring to him. You know how he is." Lizzie rolled her eyes.

"He's terrible, that's how he is. I mean, look at Tyler: You don't even have to ask him to do things, he always helps. With Reid, I have to ask at least three times before he even moves!"

Rachel slowly shook her head. "See, that's where you make the mistake: You shouldn't compare Reid to Tyler. Tyler's just too perfect for comparing." Lizzie scowled.

"I can't believe that after dating each other for over two years, you still haven't fought once!" Rachel smiled blissfully.

"Have you ever tried fighting with Tyler? It's impossible. I mean, I could cut stab him with a knife and he'd still say 'if it makes you feel better, it's alright'. He just can't get angry."

"SHUT UP REID!" A voice echoed through the apartment. "Just shut up! That's none of your business!"

"You were saying?" Lizzie asked Rachel, who rolled her eyes.

"Reid's the exception. I mean, Reid could turn the Dalai Lama into a killer." Lizzie nodded thoughtfully, unable to deny that. "Come on, let's go calm our boyfriends down." Rachel sighed softly and walked to the kitchen. Lizzie hesitated for a second, not sure if she really wanted to get into that fight, before following her friend.

"Reid, Tyler, shut it. You know Brian hates it when people fight." Rachel commanded. Tyler and Reid both took a step back, knowing that the girl was right. Rachel continued. "Alright. Now, does anyone one to tell me what's going on?"

Lizzie looked on in amazement. She knew she was a terrible peacemaker, since she was unable not to pick a side. Whenever two people were fighting, she would almost automatically get involved. Rachel, however, was born for this sort of thing. She knew her friend had always been the shy one, wanting to please everyone, and in this case that finally worked out. Since Rachel didn't want to get on anyone's bad side, she never picked a side and just tried to make it alright.

"It's nothing." Tyler mumbled softly, his eyes focused on the floor. Not the best way to end the conversation, since no one would ever believe that. Reid glared at his friend.

"You tell her, or I will, Tyler." His voice was so serious Lizzie barely recognized it. She knew there weren't a lot of things that Reid took serious. Actually, there only was one thing; his friends. Whenever one of his friends was in trouble, in anyway, Reid would do anything in his power to make it better. Tyler knew this as well, and didn't have to think for one second that Reid wouldn't come through with his threat.

"There's this girl…" He started slowly. Lizzie narrowed her eyebrows, not liking where this was going. Rachel's eyes widened. "She has asked me out a couple of times. I keep telling her that I'm taken, but she won't listen." He looked at Rachel with regret and remorse. "I didn't want to worry you, that's why I didn't tell you."

For a while it was completely silent in the room. When Rachel opened her mouth, her voice was cold. "Liz, could you and Reid look after Brian for a while?" Lizzie nodded without hesitating, and then she and Reid walked out of the kitchen.

Rachel and Tyler looked at each other. Her eyes were cold, his eyes were filled with regret.

"I'm sorry." He whispered softly. Rachel lifted her eyebrows.

"About what?" Tyler winced slightly. He had hoped he wouldn't have to go through that.

"I should have told you." He told her softly, taking a step towards her. She took a step back, froze and then turned around and left the kitchen. Tyler followed her.

Rachel sat down on the couch in front of the TV. "Girls don't suddenly start to follow a boy, Tyler. Someway, she must have gotten the idea that you liked her. How long has this been going on?" Tyler hesitated before sitting down next to her.

"I've known her for about a year. She asked me out a few weeks back. I really didn't know she liked me like that, Rachel. Otherwise I would've done something about it sooner."

Rachel really didn't know what she should do. Actually, she wasn't even sure if she had the right to be angry. Alright, Tyler had kept it from her, but it wasn't like he had really tried to hide it from her or anything… he just didn't want her to worry. Plus, it wasn't his fault that bitch tried to get a taken man.

Rachel knew she was insecure. Being ignored for the main part of your life does that to a girl. She often thought Tyler was too good for her, that it was just a matter of time before he'd find someone better and dump her. But she also knew Tyler was to sweet to cheat on her, that if he really liked that other girl he'd break up with her first. Still, there was a part in her that wasn't so sure if he really liked her better than that other girl. And that was the reason she was angry, she suddenly realized, it was because she was afraid she'd loose him.

"Are you still friends?" She whispered softly. She had a lump in her throat, but she couldn't swallow it. She felt Tyler leaning closer to her and wrap his arms around her.

"No. I mean, I tried telling her I was taken, that I didn't like her that way, but she just wouldn't listen. So I started ignoring her. But she just kept following me around."

Rachel didn't respond, and just kept staring ahead of her. She tried to figure out what she was feeling, what she should do. But it was hard.

Tyler looked at her, trying to read her mind. He knew Rachel, knew how to make her laugh, what she liked or hated, how to make her feel better… but this time there was nothing. He knew he had been wrong, that he should have told her. But he didn't know what to do now. He had said he was sorry and, although he knew it wasn't enough, there was nothing more he could do.

"She only asked you out?" Rachel suddenly asked as a new idea jumped into her head. "Or did she ever do anything more?" Tyler hesitated for a second, not sure if Rachel could take it. But he knew he didn't really have a choice. Not anymore.

"She kissed me once." He admitted. Rachel head flew up and she glared at him.

"And what, you just forgot to mention that before?" Tyler didn't answer. For a second Rachel just looked at him with tears in her eyes. Then she stood up.

"I'm going to stay with Lizzie and Reid tonight." She told him and disappeared to her bedroom to grab some clothes.

Tyler didn't try to stop her. He couldn't even move. Instead he just sat on the couch, staring into nothing and telling himself what an idiot he was.

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><p>"I never thought Tyler could be such an idiot." Reid told his girlfriend in surprise as they walked back to their own apartment. Lizzie was carrying Brian in her arms, while Reid held a bag filled with some of his toys, his diapers and other things he needed.<p>

Lizzie nodded in agreement. "It's kind of funny. We were just talking about how perfect Tyler was, and how Rachel and he never fight, and then we heard him scream in the kitchen." Reid shrugged.

"What can I say, we have a great timing." Then he realized something else. "Wait, you think Tyler is perfect?" Lizzie laughed, but didn't answer the question. Reid groaned. "Why did I have to pick the one girl that can actually make me insecure?" He muttered, with a playful grin on his face. Lizzie laughed again.

"Sorry, sweetheart. We're babysitting today, so you can say whatever you want to, but you won't be rewarded tonight." Reid laughed as well and pressed a gentle kiss against her lip while opening the door to their apartment.

"I love you." He whispered softly to her. Lizzie smiled back at him.

"As I love you." She replied. Reid smiled happily, and then frowned again.

"You think Rachel and Tyler will be okay?" He asked his girlfriend. Rachel and Tyler came very close to being the siblings he never had, and he didn't like seeing either one of them unhappy. Although he knew Rachel had the right to know about this whole situation, and he didn't once regret forcing Tyler to tell her, he still worried that this thing might cause some real damage in their relationship.

"I don't know." Lizzie answered truthfully. "I mean, it isn't really Tyler's fault that some girl can't take a hint. But he should have told her. If you ask me, the biggest problem in this is gonna be the fact that Rachel is going to worry Tyler might chose that bitch over her. She is a bit insecure about those sort of things." Reid thought about that for a second.

"I don't think it's just the insecurity. Rachel's just the kind of girl that doesn't handle change so well. I think she's afraid that if Tyler leaves her, everything might fall apart. Plus, she did once say something about me being friends with Tyler first, so I guess she thinks we're all gonna abandon her if Tyler does." Lizzie frowned.

"That's ridiculous. I knew her long before I met you, didn't I?" Reid looked at her, acting like he was hurt.

"So you'll chose her over me?" He asked her in a small, childish voice. Lizzie laughed.

"Hell yeah! When she and Tyler break up, we're gonna get married!" They both laughed.

"Hell!" Brian exclaimed happily, immediately ending the joy in the room.

"Great." Reid mumbled. "Rachel's gonna kill us." Lizzie thought about it for a second.

"Nah. Whenever Brian learns a bad word, she immediately thinks it was you, so I should be save."

"Comforting." Reid muttered softly. Lizzie grinned at him, but before she could answer, the bell rang. Reid stood up from the couch and walked to the door.

"Who's there?" He asked, before opening it.

"It's me." That was all he needed to know, and so he opened the door. When he saw Rachel standing there, her cheeks stained with tears and a bag in her hands, he didn't have to ask any more questions.

"Come on in." He said softly, while stepping aside to let the girl in.

"Mommy!" Brian exclaimed with a huge smile on his face. Rachel immediately walked to her son, dropping the bag on the floor. Lizzie handed the kid to his mother.

"I'll go prepare the guestroom." Lizzie softly said to her friend, and then walked away. Rachel dropped down on the couch, holding her son close to her heart. Reid sat down beside her, pulling her in his arms.

"It'll be okay, Rach." He promised her softly. "It's all gonna be okay." He had promised her that so many times before, but Rachel knew he spoke the truth. Reid would never let her down when she needed help.

"He kissed her." She whispered softly. She felt Reid's arms tighten around her.

"He's an idiot." He told, trying to mask the anger in his voice. No one had the right to hurt his little sister, not even his brother. "But idiots make mistakes, that's just the way it goes. He does love you, Rachel. More than anything. You know that's true, right?"

Brian started to cry, no longer accepting the sadness that seemed to rule the room. Lizzie walked to Rachel and extended her hands.

"Come on, I'll go play with him." She said softly. Rachel hesitated for a second, not wanting to be too much of a burden to her friends. But she knew she was in no condition to take care of Brian, and she had no choice but to hand the baby to her friend. Lizzie disappeared into the guestroom.

"Rachel?" Reid's gentle voice dragged her attention back to their conversation. She looked up at him, thinking about his previous question.

"I don't know." She finally said. "Maybe… maybe it's just too hard, being with me."

Reid frowned. "Why's that?"

Rachel bowed her head. "I've been having dreams lately." She whispered, barely audible. "Nightmares… about that day…" Reid felt his heart break for his friends. He didn't need to ask what day she was talking about, but he had hoped that she had gotten over it. Or at least that she wouldn't dream about them anymore.

"They're gone, Rachel. They can't hurt you anymore. Not ever again." And then she really started to cry.

"They can Reid!" She cried out. "They do! Every night, when I'm asleep. Every time someone touches me. It all comes back, and I have to fight so hard to keep myself from screaming! I don't want to, Reid. I just want to kiss my boyfriend and forget all that ever happened, but I can't… I just can't."

Reid felt the tears appear in his own eyes. He wanted to protect his little sister so bad, but there were some things he just couldn't help her with, no matter how hard he tried.

So he pulled her closer, stroking her hair and allowing her to cry out on his shoulder.

"You don't always have to fight, you know." He whispered softly in her ear. "With us, with Tyler, you can scream. And Tyler will always love you. No matter how scared you are, or how hard you scream, he will always love you. We all will. Don't forget that." He only got a sob in reply, so he continued.

"Tyler had told that girl he doesn't want to date. He would never cheat on you, simply because he isn't that good of a liar. So you never have to worry about that. He has chosen you, Rachel, and he loves every part of you , even the parts you hate yourself. I know that, because that's exactly how I love Lizzie. How she loves me. And how you love Tyler. So just go to sleep, and tomorrow this will al seem like nothing. You and Tyler go out, talk about it, and before you know it you're just as annoyingly cute and perfect as you used to be."

Rachel pulled away from him and looked him in the face, searching for anything that could prove he was lying to her. Finally she opened her mouth.

"You promise?" Her voice was soft, as scared and shy as it had been before, when Reid still had to work to bring Rachel to trust him.

"I promise." He told her in his most sincere voice. "Now go to take a shower. You look like a walking dead." Rachel slapped him against the arm, a small smile appearing on her face. Then she walked away to the showers.

"Nice work." Lizzie complimented him while walking out of the guest room. "But who said I loved the parts about you that you hate?"

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><p><strong>PLEASE REVIEW! I wasn't too sure about this chapter, so I'd really appreciate it if you guys would tell me what did or did not make sense. Everyone needs a little reassurance, after all :)<strong>

**I'll upload the next chapter somewhere next week. The more people review, the earlier you'll get it!  
><strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Change**

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><p>"Hey, little sis." Pogue greeted his little sister as she jumped in his arms. Kate laughed as she watched the two siblings reunion. It had only been a couple of weeks since their last visit, but Kate had long grown used to the fact that Pogue would never like the idea of his sister alone somewhere, even if alone meant close to two of his best friends. And Rachel, well, she just loved seeing her big brother. And bragging to him about her dance career, of course.<p>

"Hey Kate!" Rachel greeted Kate with just as much enthusiasm. Kate laughed again and hugged the girl.

"Hey Rachel. How are you?"

"Great, and you?" Before Kate had a change to answer, she noticed the cute little boy in the door opening. "Hello Brian." She greeted the kid.

"Uncle Po! Aunt Kate!" The boy yelled out, even more enthusiast than his mother. Rachel laughed as Pogue stooped down to lift the little boy into the air.

"Your getting big, Brian! Soon I won't be able to lift you anymore." Pogue joked. Kate grinned sweetly.

"Maybe you should train more often then." Pogue glared at her playfully, before handing his nephew to Kate, just as Tyler and Reid appeared in the door opening of the apartment next to Rachel's.

"Hey Pogue." They chorused. Pogue grinned and walked to his 'brothers' to great them. Then Pogue frowned at Tyler.

"What did I hear? You kissed some girl." Tyler groaned softly. He had hoped the arguments about that mistake were over now. Apparently, it was just getting worse. He still remembered 'the talk' Pogue had given him after he started dating Rachel. A talk that included some very graphic ideas about beating him to bloody pulp.

"Pogue!" Rachel called her brother back. "It's dealt with. Don't worry." Pogue muttered something about Rachel being way to forgiving, and then sighed.

"Alright. But consider this to be your last warning." Tyler nodded.

"I know the hallways are beautiful here, but you could consider getting in, ya know?" Lizzie called out of Rachel's apartment. Kate grinned and walked inside, still carrying Brian on her arm. The boy was chattering about a drawing he had made. Rachel promised to get it and walked to the kitchen, while Tyler led their guests towards the small living room. Lizzie followed Rachel to get something to drink for everyone, and just a few minutes later, everyone was sitting in the living room, talking about school and everything that had happened.

"So, are you nervous?" Kate asked Rachel curiously. Rachel shrugged. That evening, she'd have a huge show, where she would both sing and dance. That was the reason everyone was getting together again.

"A bit." She admitted. "But I've done it before, so I'm sure it'll be fine." She didn't sound to convinced, so Tyler quickly jumped in to comfort her.

"I've seen parts of the dress rehearsal this morning. It was amazing." He told his friends. Lizzie nodded in agreement. She also was in the show.

"Trust me, you're going to love it!" She promised.

"Of course we are!" Kate laughed. "You guys are amazing, we all knew that already!" They all laughed, and then the doorbell rung again. Tyler moved to open it, and Caleb and Sarah walked in. Again, everyone hugged and greeted each other before sitting down again. New conversations started, and no one noticed how Kate and Pogue shared a hesitant look. Then they both stood up and took each others hands, effectively dragging the attention to them.

"There's something we want to tell you." Kate started, before looking up at the Pogue, who simply looked back for a few seconds before continuing.

"We're engaged." Sarah, Lizzie and Rachel squealed and the three of them hugged Kate, while the boys congratulated Pogue.

"Let me see! Let me see!" Lizzie shrieked. "I wanna see!" Kate laughed and managed to push the girls a little further away.

"Pogue has it. We wanted it to be a surprise, and we figured the ring would sort of give us away." Pogue saw the three girls turn to him with expecting looks, and he quickly pulled the ring out of his pocket before anyone would attack him like the girls had attacked Kate. Sarah quickly pushed Kate towards Pogue, and the group watched as Pogue put the ring around Kate's finger. The girls awed, and then quickly moved forward to see the ring.

And it was beautiful. It was made of silver, with three diamonds. The middle one was the biggest, but even the two small ones just screamed 'Were expensive! We cost more than your house!'. Of course, Rachel didn't know that much about diamonds.

"It's beautiful!" She told Kate with a huge smile on her face. Kate nodded in agreement, looking like she was in heaven. Rachel spun around and flew her brother around the neck.

"Congratulations!" She shrieked. Pogue laughed.

And at that moment, life seemed pretty much perfect, Rachel thought.

* * *

><p>"I hate this." She muttered softly to Lizzie as they waited backstage for their turn. Lizzie smiled weakly.<p>

"It'll be fine. Don't worry." It wasn't very convincing, so Rachel searched for something to distract her.

"I can't believe Pogue and Kate are getting married." She whispered to her friend. They had to be quiet, otherwise the people on stage, or the audience, might hear them. Although the changes for that weren't to big at the moment, since a rock band was performing. Lizzie nodded in agreement, quickly taking the change of distracting her.

"I know!" She whispered back. "Actually, Reid and I had a bet standing. I thought Caleb and Sarah would be first, Reid figured you and Tyler would win. Rachel laughed softly, but had to admit she agreed with Lizzie.

"It's just weird, you know? I mean, just last week, Sarah spent two hours fixing a fight between them, and now they're engaged." Lizzie nodded.

"But that's just what makes them strong, I guess. I mean, sure, they fight, but they always make up. I don't think either of them could stand a relationship without fighting. They just love it to much." At that moment, the music stopped, and Rachel and Lizzie listened as Lizzie's name was announced, along with James' name. They would dance to Usher's 'DJ got us falling in love again'

"Showtime." Lizzie whispered softly. Rachel sent her friend a quick, reassuring smile. Then she watched as Lizzie jumped on stage.

Since all the dancers wanted to see how their friends were doing, they had a huge television hanging in the dressing room. Rachel headed towards it, and started to smile. It was amazing. Her friend had managed to loos all her previous worry and nervousness, and she and James danced like there was no tomorrow. Rachel could hear the crowd cheering and even managed to forget her own worries for the time being.

But only for the time being. It didn't take very long before it was her turn. She knew this dance was important; there were a lot of important talent scouts in the crowd, and it would be amazing if one of them would chose her for a gig. When the music stopped, and Lizzie and James bowed for the crowd before disappearing in the dressing room again, Madeline, one of Rachel's friends, patted her on the shoulder.

"Good luck." Rachel tried to smile back, and then hurried towards the stage, where she would meet her partner Andy. He gave her a quick grin as they met, and then the lights were turned off. A table was carried to the middle of the stage, and Andy sat down on a chair behind it. Then the music danced and a single spotlight fell on Andy, while Rachel appeared behind him.

And they danced.

Rachel forget about everything, and just listened to the music, doing what she had to do, and allowing the music to touch her soul. It was jazz, not her strongest dance, but now that she was dancing, she knew she could do it. She could.

She sat behind the desk as the music stopped, while Andy lay on the side of the stage on the ground. She panted, suddenly worrying again. Was it good? She had thought so, but she didn't know how it looked. What if she made a mistake and didn't even notice it? Why wasn't there any applause?

And just as she thought that, the crowd started to cheer again, and the applause began. Andy and she both stood up and walked towards the middle of the stage, bowing. Then they walked away again.

"That was awesome!" Lizzie laughed when Rachel entered the dressing room. "You were amazing!"

"You too!" Rachel replied, also laughing. She always got some sort of euphoric feeling after finishing a show. Now she only had the dance they would do with all the students, and the singing left to worry about.

"Alright, well done!" Naomi, on of the choreographers in the school complimented the students. "Now, move your asses to the stage!" Everyone laughed and moved towards the stage. They would dance to Taio Cruz's 'Dynamite'. Rachel loved the song and the dance, so she was sure it would work fine.

There was some sort of balcony build over the stage, and that was were the girls would begin their dance, while the boys would dance on the stage.

And so they danced one last time.

* * *

><p>"You were amazing!" Sarah exclaimed as she pulled both Lizzie and Rachel into a hug. The two girls laughed while thanking her, before accepting the compliments of the others in the same way. Reid pulled Lizzie towards him, muttering something in her ear about how hot she had looked on the stage. Rachel quickly moved away from them, not wanting to know more about their relationship than necessary. Tyler gave her a quick peck on the lips.<p>

"You were great." He whispered softly. Rachel smiled and then pulled out her phone. Their neighbour, Penny, was babysitting Brian, and Rachel really wanted to know if everything was alright. Tyler grinned softly and pulled the phone out of her hand.

"I just called her. Everything's fine, but I don't think we should call to often. It might offend her." Rachel laughed softly and then leaned into her boyfriend's arms, simply enjoying his touch.

"Anyone want a drink or something?" Caleb asked, and everyone quickly passed on their orders. Pogue went with him, and so Reid and Tyler were left with the girls. Kate pulled out the programme to see what was to come after the break.

"Alright, so we have a four solo-singers, two bands and three dance groups left." Kate said. "Rachel, you're third, right after 'the animals'." Lizzie rolled her eyes as Kate named the band.

"I didn't know they were playing. I think I'm going to borrow someone's earplugs for that part." Rachel laughed and shook her head at her friend.

"They're not that bad." Then she turned to Kate and Sarah. "Their lead singer tried to seduce Reid at some point, so now Lizzie hates them."

"Well, they do suck." Tyler cut in. "Plus, that girl really is a bitch." Kate and Sarah both decided that if someone as sweet as Tyler called her a bitch, she really had to be one.

"Hey Tyler." A girl suddenly called Tyler's name. She walked towards their table, completely ignoring the rest of the group. Tyler put his arm around Rachel's shoulder and pulled her a little bit closer to him. Kate, Sarah and Lizzie simultaneously narrowed their eyes at the new girl, while Rachel looked down to the ground. She still felt like she couldn't handle competition.

"Hello Marina." He greeted the girl in an ice-cold voice. She gave him a flirty smile.

"You didn't call." She pouted. "Why didn't you call me back? I left you at least twenty messages." That was when Lizzie decided the girl was crazy. If a guy doesn't call you back after two times, you should just stop calling. Tyler simply glared at the girl.

"I told you, Marina. I didn't want to see you anymore. You should learn to listen." Marina pouted again, apparently thinking it made her look sexy or cute or something. It was quit the opposite, Lizzie thought.

"You think I can hit her already?" She whispered to Reid. Her boyfriend grinned softly.

"Nah. Give Tyler a change to prove himself to Rachel, than you can have your fun." Lizzie was content with that agreement, and so she smiled. That was until she saw Rachel's face. The girl looked rather upset. Apparently, she wasn't the only one to notice it either. Tyler looked to his girlfriend and grabbed her hand in his. She looked up at him and gave a small smile. He smiled back. Then Marina started talking again.

"Well, at least you came to see me tonight. So I guess you are forgiven for not calling me." Lizzie stared at her, eyes filled with unbelief. Was that girl deaf? Tyler had just said he didn't want to see her anymore, yet she was talking like he was her boyfriend or something.

"Almost." Reid muttered into her ear.

"Actually, I came her for my girlfriend." Rachel looked up and gave Marina a small smile. Marina sneered, and everyone at the table prepared for a fight. It was obvious Marina was about to attack Rachel, verbally or physically, and no one was going to let something happen to the baby of their group.

"And go." Reid said to his girlfriend, while pulling his hand away from her waist. Lizzie jumped Tyler and Rachel and Marina.

"Please stay." She told the girl. Marina blinked.

"What? Who are you?" Lizzie grinned her evil smirk, the one that could make people feel like they were a fly in a spider's web.

"I'm Lizzie. And I said please stay." Now Marina really was confused.

"Why?" Lizzie took a step forward, replacing her smirk with a menacing expression.

"Because you just flirted with my little sister's boyfriend. That gives me the right to beat to bloody pulp. Unless, of course, if you leave. So please stay."

"Tyler?" Marina tried desperately. She didn't doubt for even a second that Lizzie wouldn't come true.

"Reid?" Lizzie asked without taking her eyes off of Marina. "Can I?" Reid smiled.

"Give her some time, sweetheart. Five seconds sound fair to you?" Lizzie nodded happily and Kate and Sarah moved from their chairs to Lizzie's side. They both started counting down.

"Five."

"TYLER! Are you really gonna let them talk to me like that?" Tyler simply smiled and kissed Rachel and the lips.

"I wonder were Pogue and Caleb are." He mused.

"Four."

"Their still at the bar." Reid answered Tyler's question. "It's a bit crowded, apparently."

"Three."

"Tyler!"

"Did anyone ever tell you, your voice is really annoying?" Lizzie asked Marina. Sarah nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, it's like… I don't know, it's just too high. It hurts my head."

"Two." Kate said.

"And your hair, what did you _do _with it! You do know you ought to wash it, don't you?" Lizzie really knew to hit a girl were it hurt.

"One." Sarah said. Marina took one last glance at Tyler and then ran away. The three girls moved back to their seats.

"Well, that was fun." Lizzie smiled. Tyler laughed softly.

"Thanks, Liz. Maybe now she understands what I mean with 'go away'." Lizzie made a small bow.

"You're very welcome." Suddenly she realized something.

"Wait, was that the bitch you were talking about the other day? The one who kissed you?" Tyler glanced down at Rachel, worried about her reaction to this. Then he nodded.

"Yeah." He admitted. Rachel placed a hand behind his head.

"Love you." She told him softly, reassuring him at the same time. Tyler smiled back.

"Love you too." And they kissed again. Sarah awed, while Reid groaned.

"That's not cute, Sarah, those are my little siblings." Sarah and Kate looked at each other.

"That sounded wrong, Reid." Sarah then said. Kate nodded in agreement.

"Exactly." Reid simply said.

"Please take your hands off my sister." Tyler and Rachel quickly pulled away when they heard Pogue's voice behind them. The others laughed.

"What was that girl doing here?" Caleb asked while sitting down next to Sarah. He and Pogue had seen the girl talk to their friends, and when they had seen Lizzie standing in front of the girl, they almost returned to the table to stop their friend, before the girl had walked away again.

"That…" Reid started. "was Marina, the girl that has been following Tyler around for the past… How long was it again, Tyler?" Tyler didn't answer. "Anyway, I'm pretty sure Lizzie scared enough to… well, I don't know. Maybe she'll decide to move to Alaska or something." Pogue grinned, clearly happy with that idea.

"If she had been a boy, I'd beat her up." He told Kate. Kate laughed.

"If she had been a boy, this would've been extremely awkward." Lizzie looked on her watch and then nudged Rachel.

"The show resumes in ten minutes. Didn't you have a meeting now?" Rachel grabbed Tyler's wrist, looked on his watch and jumped up.

"Shit! I should've been there five minutes ago!" She ran away and Pogue rolled his eyes.

"Typical." He muttered softly and Kate started laughing.

"Says the guy who can't even remember what day it is." Lizzie immediately looked at Kate, sensing the girl was going to say something funny. She wasn't disappointed.

"Kate!" Pogue whined, but his girlfriend ignored him.

"Last week, he forgot to go to class on Monday. He said he 'thought it was still weekend!" The others laughed, while Pogue pouted.

"I can't believe it." Reid said to his friend. "After all those years listening to my excuses, that's the best you can come up with?"

"So 'sorry, I was locked up in the janitor's closet with a girl' is a better one?" Caleb grinned.

"That wasn't an excuse, Pogue, that actually happened. He was stuck in there for three hours with some girl… Elena, wasn't it, Reid?" Reid quickly glanced at his girlfriend, afraid she would be bothered by this, but she was laughing just as hard as the others, so he grinned as well.

"Hey, don't be jealous just because you couldn't get laid. How many girlfriends have you had again? Two, right? Kira and Sarah." Sarah blinked.

"You dated Kira?" She asked, voice filled with unbelief. "I thought that was just a story to make Aaron jealous!" Kate leaned forward, ready to gossip.

"Oh no, that was true. They dated for almost a year." Sarah turned to Kate.

"What happened?" Reid lifted an eyebrow. It was as if the two girls had completely forgotten they weren't alone. He glanced at Caleb and saw the hurt expression on his face. Not a surprise; as it turned out, Kira had just been using him to get to Aaron. It had taken Caleb two months to finally realize Kira was to busy for dates because she enjoyed Aaron's company better.

"Kate." Kate heard the warning undertone in Pogue's voice, and immediately shut her mouth. When everyone, except for Sarah, looked away, she quickly mouthed 'tell you later'. Sarah nodded and turned back to Caleb.

"Tyler?" Pogue's voice grew serious all of a sudden. Tyler looked at him curiously. "How has Rachel been?" Tyler hesitated before answering.

"She's been having nightmares, bad nightmares. Sometimes she can't even go back to sleep afterwards. She had one last night and she was crying for an hour." Everyone was silent, until Reid started talking.

"But despite the nightmares, she's getting better, I think. I mean, she has made new friends and she stopped shying away whenever a stranger would touch her." Pogue nodded softly, clearly not reassured. Reid knew his friend was worried about his sister, that he thought about moving to New York to watch over her.

"You can't protect her forever, man." He said softly. When he saw the anger on Pogue's face, he knew he had said the wrong thing.

"If I had protected her back then, we wouldn't be having this problem." He hissed, curling his hands into fists. No one knew what to say, and for a couple of minutes everyone was just silent, sitting in their chairs and sipping from their drinks.

"I think we should return to our seats." Caleb finally said with a glance at his watch. "The show starts in one minute."

* * *

><p>Rachel had received a small lecture about being late, but it wasn't a huge problem. The meeting before the show was just to make sure everyone remembered what they had to do and when. Plus, Rachel was known to be a serious and hard working student, so she was easily forgiven.<p>

She anxiously awaited her turn, fiddling with the fingerless gloves Reid had lent her for the occasion. Finally it was her turn, and she moved to the stage.

She had wrote the song herself, with a little help from her teachers, and she was rather proud of it, even though she hadn't wrote the music herself. The song was to the tune of Elton John's version of 'Can you feel the love tonight'.

Kayla, a twenty-one year old student, left the stage. When she saw Rachel waiting for her turn, she gave her a quick smile.

"Break a leg." She grinned. Rachel returned the smile, took a deep breath and listened as her name was announced.

"Now, nineteen year old Rachel Parry will sing the song 'Change'. She wrote this song herself to the tune of 'Can you feel the love tonight'." Rachel heard the applause seconds before she actually saw the audience. She tried to ignore their eyes as she walked to the microphone. She closed her eyes, waiting for the music to start. And then she started to sing. Change

To the tune of Elton John's 'Can you feel the love tonight'

_Living in the darkness_  
><em>praying for a way<em>

_when it is clear no one will come_  
><em>she slowly fades away<em>  
><em>the will to live is gone now<em>  
><em>she just wants to flee<em>  
><em>when suddenly an angel show himself<em>  
><em>having heard her plea<em>

_(Chorus)_  
><em>and suddenly the world seems bright<em>  
><em>like it's faults are gone<em>  
><em>she believes in love, she feels the hope now,<em>  
><em>knows he'll keep her safe<em>  
><em>yeah, suddenly the world seems bright<em>  
><em>she will live tonight<em>  
><em>because life can change any second now<em>  
><em>and that's why it's worth it<em>

_life can seem so dark sometimes_  
><em>but you have to know:<em>  
><em>you just have to keep on fighting<em>  
><em>and the light will grow<em>  
><em>your faith lies in your hands<em>

_only you decide_  
><em>everything you do can change your life.<em>  
><em>open your eyes wide<em>

_(Chorus)_  
><em>and suddenly the world seems bright<em>  
><em>like it's faults are gone<em>  
><em>she believes in love, she feels the hope now,<em>  
><em>knows he'll keep her safe<em>  
><em>yeah, suddenly the world seems bright<em>  
><em>she will live tonight<em>  
><em>because life can change any second now<em>  
><em>and that's why it's worth it<em>

_because life can change any second now_  
><em>and that's why it's worth it<em>

* * *

><p><strong>And here's chapter two! The next chapter might be a bit late, since I'm leaving for France this weekend and my mom as long ago decided that vacation means no computers. I'll try to update as soon as I get back. <strong>

**I want to thank xxWARxx and Vampir3.S3duction for reviewing. To Vampir3.S3duction: the part on the top was supposed to be confusing, so I'm glad it served its purpose. And actually, I expected it to be Reid as well. Somehow my fingers just ended up typing about Tyler instead. **

**to xxWARxx: I'm so glad you liked this chapter and your review really made my day. Honestly, I immediately started writing the third chapter, just hoping that would get me a review like that one. It's always nice to be loved :)**

**Anyway, the third chapter will be especially for you. **

**Oh, and to everyone: This song actually is to the tune of 'Can you feel the love tonight'. I wrote it myself, and I really hope you guys like it. **

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Progress**

* * *

><p>It was a bit crowded in the room, but no one really cared. While Natasha was playing with Brian, Lizzie was showing her letter to Abe for the third time and Rachel was trying to make sure everyone had something to drink, Reid allowed himself to just lean back in his chair and watch. Three days ago, Lizzie had received a letter from some major music company. They had seen her dancing and wanted her to come work for them, to star in the music video's they made and dance in concerts they organized. For Lizzie, it had been a dream coming true. The girl hadn't stopped bouncing up and down since.<p>

After she had called her parents and her friends from Boston, Reid had seen how happy she was and decided the girl deserved a reward after that huge accomplishment. So he, with a little help from Tyler and Rachel, had organized a small party for her. Of course, all the Boston friends had been invited, as had Pogue, Caleb, Sarah and Kate. Unfortunately, the last four named couldn't come, since they had just been there. They couldn't miss that much classes, but they had promised they'd come as soon as possible and they had sent a gift.

So there they were; the Boston crew and band were back together, plus Reid and Tyler. They were laughing, catching up and talking about 'the old days', when everyone still lived in Boston, or at least close by. Reid and Tyler heard a few stories about Lizzie, and even about Rachel, they had never heard before.

"…So Lizzie climbed on that stage, totally wasted, and she started dancing. Honestly, it wasn't that bad, until she fell of the stage!" Everyone laughed, even Lizzie. The girl really didn't know the meaning of the word shame. As she put it, the past was the past and there's nothing you can do about it than enjoy the memories.

"At least I never forget my lines! When was it again, Rachel? You just joint the crew. "

Rachel immediately knew what her friend was talking about and grinned.

"Somewhere in October, I think. Abe completely forget the song, so he was just blaring something to the music."

Abe immediately stopped laughing and scowled at the girls. Apparently he couldn't enjoy the memories as much as Lizzie could.

"And do you remember that time…?" Mark asked his friends, and so another story began.

* * *

><p>"You're amazing." Lizzie whispered in his ear. They laid in bed in each other's arms, enjoying the silence after the party. Somewhere, Lizzie heard a baby cry and she started to wonder if it could be Brian, until Reid spoke.<p>

"I know." She poked him in the ribs with her elbows and he muttered a soft 'ouch'. Then they both smiled again.

"I mean the party." Lizzie said softly. "You're the first one to ever organize one for me. Abe said you have even paid the plane tickets for them."

Reid shrugged modestly. "Tyler and Rachel helped." He said honestly. "But I'm glad you liked it." Lizzie gave him a small, tender kiss on the lips.

"I love you." She whispered to him. He placed his hand on her cheek.

"I love you too." And then he kissed her again.

* * *

><p>"… and I really don't know what it is." Reid really hoped his friend didn't expect him to give some sort of answer, because he didn't have a clue what they were talking about. At the moment, he had bigger things to worry about. "Reid? Are you listening." Apparently, luck wasn't on his side today.<p>

"Not really." He admitted, knowing he wouldn't get very far by lying. Tyler sighed agitated and just opened his mouth to start a rant, when Reid started talking again. "I'm thinking about proposing to Lizzie." Tyler's closed his mouth again, taking some time to let that idea sink in.

"Well," he finally said. "You've already been living together for almost a year and you still haven't killed each other yet. So I guess it is time." Reid nodded slowly.

"Yeah." He muttered. "But I don't have a clue what to do." Tyler lifted an eyebrow.

"Well, have you bought a ring yet?" He asked calmly, already making a mental list of things Reid would need. After all, he knew his friend good enough to know he would never do things the easy way. Reid would want to baffle Lizzie, do something that would probably get in the Guinness' book of records in some way.

Reid shook his head. "Not yet. I don't know what she'll like. You think Rachel will help?" Tyler grinned.

"Trust me, if you ask Rachel she won't stop bouncing for another week or so. Did you see her after Kate and Pogue announced their engagement?" Reid frowned.

"I want to keep it a secret, so I guess that idea is out. Any other options?" Tyler grinned, placed some money on the table of the diner where they were eating and stood up from his chair.

"I have another idea." He called over his shoulder. Reid followed him immediately.

* * *

><p>"Mind telling me how you knew about this?" Reid looked at his friend, eyes playfully narrowed. Tyler blushed a bit as he looked at the jewelry store at the other end of the street.<p>

"I was thinking about asking Rachel." He admitted. Reid grinned for a second and then lifted an eyebrow, realizing something.

"Thinking? You mean you're not sure yet?"

"I don't know." Tyler admitted. "I'm… I'm just not sure if Rachel is ready for it, and I'm afraid that I'll push her too far by asking her… It's just a little complicated, I guess." Reid nodded softly. He knew Rachel had a problem with saying 'no'. "Anyway," Tyler continued, "that doesn't matter now. Let's just go and find you a ring." Reid groaned softly, already sure that the time they had to spent in the shop were going to be torture.

Surprisingly enough, the torture didn't start until they came out again.

Reid stared at the box in his hand like something was about to jump out of it and bite him. "Do you think she'll like it?" Tyler couldn't think of a girl that wouldn't like it.

It was made of white gold, eighteen karats, was practically covered in diamonds and was shaped like a flower, with a huge diamond in the middle. Expensive and attention-attracting; Lizzie would love it.

"I think you're save." Tyler told his friend with a grin. Reid grinned back a little nervously. Then he put the box in his back pocket, seconds before a bullet shot through the air. Reid and Tyler ducked automatically, along with basically everyone else in the street. Everyone, except for one person: Tyler watched as he, ran away, disappearing into an alley. The figure was wearing a hood to cover his face, making it impossible to recognize him. Tyler wasn't even sure if it even was a boy. Then he turned back to his friend. He paled when he saw the blood streaming down from underneath Reid's hand. He held it against his head, then pulled it back and stared at the blood in unbelief.

"That was close." He muttered. His eyes were wide, like he hadn't fully grasped what had just happened.

"You're bleeding." Tyler's voice was barely above a whisper. Reid grinned, coming back down to earth and becoming himself again.

"Thank you, captain obvious. It's just a grazing shot, I think." Tyler was still fighting to stay calm.

"Doesn't it hurt?" He asked. Reid recognized the sound in his voice; the sound that said he was about to freak out. He immediately switched to big brother mode. No matter how old he was, he'd always be the baby.

"Tyler." He said, forcing the boy to look him in the eyes instead of at his head. "I'm alright, Tyler. I barely felt a thing. It's just a scratch. We both had worse."

"Somebody shot at you." Tyler whispered. Tears started to appear in the boys eyes, and Reid cursed in his head.

"Well, if he did, he missed. Plus, nobody says he shot at me. Maybe he was aiming for someone else."

"Then why did he ran?" Tyler asked. Neither of them were aware of the panic going on around them.

"Maybe he realized it wouldn't take too long for someone to notice him?" Reid suggested. "Anyway, let's go. I'm getting a headache from all the screaming here."

"Shouldn't we wait for the police?" Reid groaned. Damn his sense of responsibility.

* * *

><p>Well, Reid thought as he lay on the couch, at least there was some advantage to being shot.<p>

"Do you need anything else? Are you sure you don't want a painkiller?" Lizzie looked down at her boyfriend worriedly. "You look a bit pale."

"Liz." He smiled at her. "I'm alright, don't worry. Honestly, I think it hurt Tyler more than me." He grinned at his friend. "He was practically crying."

"Was not!" Tyler objected. Rachel swatted him on the arm.

"You shouldn't scream, you'll give Reid a headache." When Tyler huffed and looked away, she winked at Reid. He grinned. She wasn't nearly as innocent as anyone thought. At least, he corrected himself, not after knowing him for this long.

"It's okay, Tyler." Lizzie smiled at him. "Not every guy can be made of stone like Reid."

"HEY!" Both boys objected as one. Rachel and Lizzie laughed.

"Never mind."Reid muttered. "Now, Tyler, Rachel, leave. I need some time with my girl." Rachel pretended to be offended, but Reid simply grinned at her. "Hey, if I'm made of stone, I'm not even gonna bother being sensible!" She laughed and stood up.

"Alright. Come on, Ty."

"See ya. And please remember the walls aren't sound proof." Tyler reminded his two friends. He closed the door before the pillow thrown by Lizzie could hit him.

"He's getting faster." She complained. Reid laughed and then grabbed her arm, pulling her on top of him.

"Gives us more alone time." He grinned. Lizzie laughed and kissed him on the lips before moving to stand up again. Reid, however, wasn't about to let that happen.

"Oh, no, you don't!" He laughed, pulling her back on the couch. Then he rolled them over, causing him to be on top. Lizzie laughed. Reid moved away.

"What are you doing?" Lizzie asked. Her laughter had reduced to a slightly confused smile. Reid kneeled down in front of the couch. Lizzie sat up, feeling her heartbeat increasing.

"Elizabeth O'Neil. I've known you for a very long time, and loved you even longer." Lizzie laughed and Reid grinned as well. "As weird as that may sound, it feels like the truth. Before you came, there was no girl who could hold my attention. No one was beautiful enough, smart enough, nice enough, funny enough… well, you get the point. You are everything I thought I never deserved, and so much more, because I could never even dream of meeting a girl like you. So, Elizabeth O'Neil, will you marry me?" Lizzie smiled through her tears as Reid pulled a box out of his back pocket and opened it, showing her the ring inside. It was beautiful.

"If I do, will you please stop calling me by my full name?" She asked. Reid grinned.

"If you do, I'll even change your name." Lizzie laughed.

"In that case, yes. I will marry you." And they kissed.

* * *

><p>"It's surprisingly silent next doors." Rachel said to Tyler while stirring the pasta. Tyler laughed.<p>

"Strangely enough, I can live with that. That smells great." Rachel smiled.

"Good, it should be almost done. Could you prepare the table?" Tyler nodded and grabbed two plates out of a cupboard. Their neighbor was babysitting Brian, so they'd have a quiet night for once. As much as he loved the baby, Tyler had to admit it was nice to have a little peace once in a while.

Tyler and Rachel talked about school, stupid things Reid had done and many other things. When they were both done eating, they did the dishes and moved to the living room to watch a movie.

But they both quickly lost focus.

Tyler thought about Reid and Lizzie. They were getting married, at least, if Lizzie said yes. He couldn't think of a reason why she wouldn't. Tyler tried to think about him and Rachel, imagining himself standing at the altar, Rachel walking through the church towards him in a white dress… It wasn't hard to imagine because it was exactly what he had been dreaming of for… well, a very long time. He turned his head, looking at the girl next to him. She was beautiful, kind, smart and… perfect. But Tyler knew she wasn't ready for marriage, not yet at least. Not when she still dreamed about Aaron and his friends.

Rachel turned her head to him, catching him staring at her and she blushed a bit.

"What?" She asked, a soft smile gracing her lips. Tyler smiled and leaned forward, catching her lips with his. Rachel wrapped her arms around his neck almost immediately, pulling him closer. And so they ended up laying on the couch, Tyler on top. Tyler allowed his lips to wander away from hers, stroking across her cheek-bone. Rachel moaned softly. Her hands moved across his back, grabbing his shirt and trying to pull him as close as possible. Then her hands found the bottom of his shirt and they moved underneath it. Rachel explored his abs, making Tyler kiss her even more eagerly. She grabbed his shirt again and moved it up, trying to take it off. Their lips parted for just a second to allow the shirt to disappear, then their kiss continued.

Tyler didn't think. His instincts took control, and before he knew what he was doing, his hands were underneath Rachel's shirt. At first, it went well. It wasn't until his hands started to wander that things went wrong. They stroked across their braw, and then Tyler was suddenly working on unclasping it. Rachel froze.

Tyler slowly pulled away, guilt evidently on his face. Rachel didn't look at him, but he saw a small tear escaping the corner of her eye.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, her voice soft and… scared. Tyler mentally cursed when he saw the fear in her face. He knew his girlfriend well enough to know there now images of _that _night creeping in her mind. Tyler hesitated, trying to think of a way to solve this.

"You shouldn't be sorry." He told her softly. "It wasn't your fault. It was mine." Rachel immediately started shaking her head.

"No." She disagreed. "It wasn't. If I could just… get over it. I know you'd never hurt me... I know that…" Tyler didn't give her a change to finish that sentence, knowing that the longer she'd talk, the guiltier she'd feel. He kissed her, a quick kiss on the lips to shut her up, and then pulled her upwards.

They sat on the couch, Rachel looking down at her lap, Tyler looking at her. Slowly, he moved his hand to her chin and pushed it up, forcing her to look at him. He knew this conversation was long due. The nightmares she had, the times she'd wake up crying, the times she feared he would leave her… it was time to solve all those problems. It couldn't be postponed any longer.

"They hurt you, Rachel." Tyler whispered softly. "In ways I couldn't even imagine. I know that you're scared…" Rachel opened her mouth, but Tyler placed one finger over her lips to stop her and continued. "…and I know you know I would never hurt you like that. But know one expects you to just 'get over it'. We all know it's not something you just forget. I know you think about it often, and I don't blame you. It's normal. What I just did… I knew it would freak you out, but I didn't think about it. That makes it my fault, not yours. Your reaction was perfectly normal." This time, he was too late to stop Rachel from talking.

"But I want to." She whispered. "I want to be able to do that. Like a normal couple would." Tyler saw the tears streaming down her face. "I just want to be normal." She was fully crying by now, so Tyler pulled her in her arms. Her shoulders shook as the sobs took control of her body.

"I know." Tyler whispered in her ear. "And you will be, one day. And until then, I'll be right here, by your side. I promise."

Her reaction was barely audible, muffled by Tyler's shoulder where she was currently hiding her face in. "But can you really wait that long?" Tyler didn't need any time to search for a reply.

"I'd wait a thousand years." He whispered. And Rachel believed him. Tyler pulled away from, just enough so he could see her face.

"That was the real problem, wasn't it?" He asked her softly. "About Marina, about the nightmares, everything. You were afraid I'd leave you." Rachel tried to avoid his penetrating eyes.

"You can do better." She whispered. Tyler laughed softly, while thinking about a way to convince her that was far from true.

"You were my first girlfriend, you know?" Rachel stared up at him, eyes filled with unbelief.

"That's not true. I always heard girls talk about how they hooked up with you." Tyler shook his head.

"Most of those girls were delusional. The only reason I ever even talked with any of them was to get Reid of my case." Rachel lifted a questioning eyebrow, so Tyler expounded. "He was always getting on my case about how I'd die as a virgin and everything." Rachel rolled her eyes and laughed.

"Typical Reid." Tyler nodded in agreement.

"But anyway, before I met you, there had never been any girl that could hold my attention for longer than five seconds. So that's how I know I won't find anyone more perfect than you." He wiped her tears away with his thumb and she smiled up at him.

"I love you." She whispered softly.

"I love you too." Tyler replied with a blissful smile on his face. Then he kissed her again.

"I still wish I could stop that fear, though." Rachel suddenly muttered. Tyler looked at her, as an idea formed in his head.

"Do you trust me?" He asked her softly. For a second, Rachel looked confused. Then she nodded. Tyler leaned forward, giving her one more kiss on the lips before taking her shirt in his hands and lifting it as slowly as possible. Rachel's eyes were wide as she looked up at him.

"Trust me." He whispered again and slowly the fear vanished from her face. Tyler smiled and threw the shirt on the ground.

"We're going in your pace." He said. "Whenever you get scared, just say the word, and we'll stop, alright?" Rachel nodded softly, biting her lower lip. Tyler realized she was trying to gain control of the fear and decided the last step was big enough for a while. He leaned forward, pressing his lips against hers and distracted her from all her fears.

That night was the first time in a long time she didn't have any nightmares, only beautiful dreams about her and Tyler.

* * *

><p><strong>Alright, again, I'm sorry this update was so late, but we just got back from vacation and this chapter was really hard to write. I have a small problem with the plot. Simply said, I know where I want to end, but don't have a clue how to get there. Usually, it just comes to me while I'm writing, but this time it didn't. I hope you liked it anyway. This chapter was for xxWARxx. Since she told me she loved Reid so much, I decided to give him some extra attention. I hope you liked it!<strong>

**The part between Rachel and Tyler was long due. I just didn't want anyone to think that Rachel could forget the rape that easily. I haven't written a part like that one before, so I hope it was alright.  
><strong>

**Please, PLEASE, review. If you have some ideas for the story, that would be awesome and very much appreciated, if you have some criticism: I'm a nerd, so I love to learn :) **

** If anyone knows, or is, a beta-reader, I could really use one. Not just for this story but also for A Hidden Appearance. **

**And finally: about the 'plea for help' I uploaded a few days ago, I hope that didn't sound to nagging or anything. It was just something I had to do, although it is the first time I've done anything like it.  
><strong>

**Sorry for talking this much but there is just one more thing you need to know: I'm thinking about updating some sort of alternative for A Hidden Appearance. While I was writing that story, a lot of things turned out differently from what I had in mind, so this alternative will be different. Please tell me if you're interested. I'm going to need a beta-reader for this story as well.  
><strong>


	4. Chapter 4

"Rachel!"

Rachel turned around when she heard her name being called. She smiled as she noticed the boy running towards her.

"Hey Michael." She greeted him, smiling at him as he stopped in front of her, panting slightly.

"I heard Lizzie's got a job." He said after he finally got his breath back. Rachel nodded.

"Yep. She has a contract for five years." Michael whistled.

"Impressive." Rachel nodded in agreement, then turned and started walking. Michael followed her example and together they headed towards their dance classes. "So when is it your turn?" Rachel looked at him questioningly, not understanding what he meant. "For a job." He specified.

Rachel laughed. "That might take a while." Michael shook his head, smiling as well.

"No way. I've heard you sing at the show last week. You were amazing! And then I haven't even start talking about the dancing yet." Rachel laughed again, but couldn't help feeling flattered.

"Ah, thanks. That's nice of you to say. But seriously, that show was a week ago. If there were any scouts who wanted me, I'd have heard by now."

Michael grinned. "You might just be surprised." Rachel looked at him. The smile on her face was slowly fading. There was something off about the way he had said that, although she couldn't really put her finger on it. He smiled at her, and she pushed the thought away. She was just being paranoid, she told herself. It was nothing.

And so she grinned back at him.

Suddenly someone grabbed her shoulders. Rachel yelped and spun around. She heard Michael laughing beside her.

"Hey Rachel." Lizzie greeted her friend innocently. Rachel rolled her eyes and put her hand against her chest.

"Give me a heart attack, why don't you?" She muttered. Lizzie grinned a wide, almost foolish grin and Rachel decided to take that as an apology. "So what are you doing here? I thought you had to practice for your gig?"

Lizzie shrugged. "It ended early, so I figured I'd come here to show you how it's really done." Michael barked laugh.

"You? Showing us? Well, that should be fun. Remember the last lesson she gave us, Rachel?" He was referring to the beginning of that year, where all students had gotten the assignment to prepare a lesson for the others. Lizzie's choreography had been amazing, her lesson... not so much. She wasn't a very patient teacher.

The bell rang, and all three students started to run. Their teachers never appreciated tardiness, and it wasn't a wise decision to test them.

The three students split up as they reached the changing room. Lizzie and Rachel headed towards their assigned lockers and quickly started changing.

"So how did your practice go?" Rachel asked, all too aware of the staring girls behind them. Lizzie was the first one of them to get a gig, which meant she was the celebrity of their year. Lizzie shrugged.

"It went alright, though the choreographer is a jerk. There was this one girl, who was so nervous she made a mistake. And that guy starts yelling to her about how she'd better work harder if she wants to keep the job!" That didn't really surprise Rachel. For some reason, all choreographers seemed to think no one was good enough for their idea.

"Poor girl." Rachel muttered. Lizzie nodded, and was about to say something else when suddenly the door to the changing room was thrown open.

"Are you girls coming or what? The boys have been ready for hours!" The teacher, miss Parker, barked. All the girls quickly ran to the door, none of them wanting to be the last.

"Ah, miss O'Neil. I hadn't expected to see you here today." Lizzie shrugged, a smirk on her face.

"I had some free time, so I thought: 'why not?'" Miss Parker nodded.

"How... admirable of you. Now please hurry up. I'd like to teach you at least a couple of step before the lesson ends." She turned and returned to the gym. Lizzie rolled her eyes, although there was no one left to see it since all the girls had moved out of the changing room, and then quickly followed the teacher.

"Alright, I see most of you have met Jason." Miss Parker said, motioning towards a boy Rachel had never seen before. "He's new here, so I expect you all to help him out where ever he needs it."

"I volunteer." Rachel heard a girl named Abigail mutter behind her. She grinned, understanding what she meant. Jason was hot. Although defiantly not her type. Rachel was just starting to wonder if she would have to keep Lizzie away from him, since this boy seemed to be just her type and Lizzie had the tendency to flirt with guys just for the fun of it, when miss Parker added:

"In fact, I think Lizzie can do that. After all, it seems like she has plenty of time before the lesson starts." A couple of girls groaned disappointedly. Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Sorry, miss, but I might not be around as much as I used to be." Lizzie was quick with her excuse. Unfortunately for miss Parker, it was a good one too.

"Right. Well, then maybe your friend Rachel can replace you when you don't have the time?" Rachel glared at her friend, before answering.

"Sure, no problem miss." Miss Parker grinned and turned around, which was the sign for the class to take a position for the practice. Rachel watched Jason follow the guys around them hesitantly.

"You can explain this one to Tyler." She hissed at Lizzie, who seemed pretty pleased with the way she had handled her little problem. Lizzie smiled up at her friend.

"No problem. Could you explain it to Reid then, please?" Rachel considered that, and quickly shook her head. Explaining it to Tyler wouldn't really be a problem. Reid, however, was almost as jealous as Pogue.

"On second thought: Never mind. You're on your own." Lizzie groaned.

"You're such a great friend."

"I know."

* * *

><p>Rachel groaned when she saw the time on her watch. Then she opened the door and entered her apartment.<p>

"Wanna play!" Brian was wiggling in Rachel's arms, wanting to get out of her hold. Rachel put him down in his room, right next to his toys, and watched him for a second. She wanted to make sure he was entertained before leaving him alone.

"Rachel? Are you home?" Rachel turned around when she heard her boyfriend's voice. When she walked out of Brian's room, she saw him standing next to the diner table, that was already laid. She smiled and hurried towards him. He embraced her and gave her a quick peck on the forehead.

"How was your day?" He asked. Rachel shrugged.

"Not that bad, I guess. But there's a new student and because Lizzie managed to piss off the teacher, again, we had to give him a tour. And then we also had to practice a few routines." Tyler smiled.

"So you're dog-tired?"

"Exactly. How was your day?" Rachel could tell from the smile that suddenly started to grow on Tyler's face he had some amazing news.

"We have an exhibition in two weeks. Six of my paintings will be displayed!" Rachel laughed and hugged him again.

"That's amazing! Congratulations!" Tyler smiled and pulled out a chair for her. She moved to sit down, but immediately jumped up again.

"I'll go get Brian." Tyler rolled his eyes and pushed her down on the chair.

"Sit." He commanded. "I'll go get him." Rachel didn't have the energy to object anymore, so she sat down, trying her best to ignore the pain in her feet.

As she watched Tyler placing Brian in his chair, she couldn't help but smile. Her little family meant everything to her, and she enjoyed the peace that surrounded them. It was soothing, she thought, to come home after a hard day's work to find a family like the one she had.

"So tell me about the exhibition." Tyler and Rachel sat on the couch in the living room. Tyler's arm was wrapped around his girlfriend's shoulder, and she leaned against him. Brian was asleep.

"Well, it's in two weeks, on Friday, and you have to come with me." Rachel laughed softly as she heard Tyler's quasi commanding voice.

"Well, I'm pretty sure I don't have anything else to do then, so no problem. But remind me I need to find a babysitter. What time?"

"It starts at eight. Do you think I should invite Reid and Lizzie?" Rachel rolled her eyes.

"I don't think they'd forgive you if you wouldn't." They both laughed, trying to imagine their friends' reactions.

"Do you know that feeling, like everything's suddenly coming together?" Tyler suddenly asked. Rachel looked up at him curiously. When she saw his serious face, she replied:

"Yeah, I do. It feels like that now, doesn't it?" Tyler nodded softly and then suddenly started to smile.

"I kind of like it. I mean, at first it was a bit weird that Caleb and Pogue couldn't visit any time they wanted anymore, but now…" Rachel understood what he meant. It was like a happy ending in a story; the problems were gone, the adventures were over and they lived happily ever after. Of course, they both knew that sort of thing wouldn't last very long, but that wasn't the point.

"I guess this would be called bliss." She muttered softly. Tyler looked down at her and smiled again. He pressed her lips against her forehead, pulled her just a bit closer and nodded.

"Defiantly a happy ending." He muttered.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Rachel, Tyler, Reid, Lizzie and Brian were all sitting in a booth in a diner, waiting for their breakfast. Lizzie was just teasing Reid about his order, that, in her eyes, was way to much for one man, when Rachel heard a familiar voice.<p>

"Hey Lizzie, Rachel." The two girls turned their heads quickly and started to smile.

"Hey Jason!" The greeted simultaneously. Reid and Tyler exchanged an amused look. The two girls had often been mistaken for sisters, and at moments like these it wasn't hard to guess why.

"Reid, Tyler, this is Jason. He goes to school with us. Jason, this is my boyfriend Tyler, Rachel's son Brian and Lizzie's fiancé Reid." Jason lifted one eyebrow, but the smile never left his face.

"Fiancé? Congratulations." Lizzie beamed as Reid wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Thanks." Lizzie said. "Why don't you join us for breakfast?" Rachel looked at her friend, wondering what she was up to. It hadn't been that long ago that Lizzie looked up to telling Reid about him, and now she was inviting him for breakfast. A quick glance around the table told her that Tyler was clearly thinking the same thing, and that Reid wasn't too happy with the invitation.

Jason, however, didn't seem to notice. "Sure." He said happily. "If you guys don't mind of course." Rachel groaned mentally, knowing there was no way they could undo the invitation.

"Of course not." She said, and then added quickly: "Why don't you sit here?" She placed a hand on the seat beside her, motioning him to sit down. When she was sure he wasn't looking she shot Lizzie a reprimanding glare. She was glad there was a seat free beside her. If Jason would sit down next to Lizzie, he probably wouldn't survive his breakfast, guessing from Reid's furious expression. She shot him glare as well, silently praying he'd at least try to be polite.

"_What is she doing?" _Rachel could barely suppress a shocked yelp when she suddenly heard Reid's voice in her head.

"_I don't know!" _She tried to make her thought sound like a hiss. _"She's your fiancée. Just trust her and try to be nice, okay?" _She glared at him again and he gave a weak nod. He was currently hiding his eyes, who were probably black, by pretending to grab a napkin he had dropped on the floor. _"Good. Now get the hell out of my head." _Rachel snapped at him. Reid laid the napkin on the table and smile, first at her and then at Jason.

"So, Jason, you just moved here?" Tyler asked, not knowing what else there was to say.

Jason nodded, clearly grateful for opportunity to talk about something instead of simply staring at each other. "Yeah, I used to live in New Holland, Illinois. How about you? Did you grow up here?"

Reid shook his head. "Nah. We grew up in Ipswich, Massachusetts."

Jason frowned thoughtfully. "I don't think I've heard of that place."

"It's never Boston." Lizzie quickly itemized, before adding. "That's were I'm from."

Jason smiled again. "Ah. That I do know. So, are you two in college as well?" This question was directed to Reid and Tyler, who both nodded. "So what do you want to be?"

"Surgeon." Reid answered, at the same time as Tyler said:

"Painter."

"And with painter I'm guessing you mean like an artist? Not a house painter?" Tyler grinned and nodded. "Respect. I once tried to make a self-portrait, but since no one could recognize it, I eventually named it 'the elephant'." They all laughed, and then the waitress came to their table to bring the food. Jason quickly ordered pancakes, while the others started eating.

* * *

><p>"So what exactly was that?" Rachel asked Lizzie as they walked to their classes. They had said goodbye to Jason after the breakfast because he needed to pick some stuff up from his apartment, or so he had said. Tyler would bring Brian to the day care centre<p>

"What?" Lizzie asked innocently. Rachel sighed.

"Don't try that on me. You know exactly what I'm talking about." Lizzie looked at her friend with a slightly guilty expression.

"I don't really know." She admitted. "It just…. Well, he came and I just…." She fell silent, looking a bit confused. Rachel looked at her worriedly.

"Are you alright? You're acting a bit weird." Lizzie groaned softly and shook her head.

"I'm fine, really, it's just a small headache. Nothing to worry about." Rachel looked at her hesitantly, but then decided to drop it. She knew Lizzie was perfectly capable of taking care of herself.

"Alright. But you'd better prepare yourself for a conversation with Reid tonight. He didn't look too happy when you invited Jason." Suddenly, Lizzie looked furious.

"That boy just needs to stay out of my business. I don't start screaming whenever _he _talks to a girl, so there's no reason he can get mad simply because I invited some guy to join us for breakfast. Seriously, Rachel, it didn't mean anything. Reid has no right to tell me what I can or can't do!" Rachel stared at her friend in unbelief. Sure, Reid was a bit jealous, but Lizzie was used to that. And when even when those two were fighting, Rachel had never heard her friend sound that angry.

"Are you sure everything is alright?" She asked carefully, searching her friend's face for… well, she didn't know what exactly. Maybe a sign that she didn't mean what she had just said.

But Lizzie simply glared at her. "I don't need you to baby me, Parry." She snapped, before speeding up her pace. Rachel stared after her friend, completely confused, as Lizzie headed towards her locker.

Rachel didn't know what it was, but something was clearly wrong.

* * *

><p>Rachel, Tyler and Reid sat in Rachel and Tyler's apartment. Brian was playing in his room and Lizzie was… Nobody knew where she was. She sent Reid a text that she would be home late, and that he shouldn't bother waiting up for her. Reid had immediately called Rachel, hoping she would know anything about the actions of his fiancée, but she was just as clueless as he was. Rachel had told the two guys everything about the conversation between Lizzie and her that morning.<p>

"So you haven't spoken with her since?" Tyler asked frowning. Rachel shook her head, trying to keep the tears from escaping her eyes.

"I tried to. But she kept ignoring me. I don't know what I did wrong." Tyler sighed and shook his head.

"This wasn't your fault. I'm going to call Caleb. Something's wrong here."

Rachel suddenly looked terrified.

"You mean something magical?" She asked. Tyler hesitated and then nodded.

"Yeah. I don't know how, but Lizzie has never acted like this. No one can change that sudden."

"I bet Jason has something to do with it." Reid hissed. Tyler shot his friend a reprimanding look, fully expecting Rachel to say something to defend her new friend.

Only, she didn't. Tyler looked at her in confusion.

"He might have a point." Rachel said softly. "I asked Lizzie why she invited him, and she didn't know why. And right after that she started to act all weird. It could be a coincidence, but…" Tyler knew what she meant. It was just too much of a coincidence.

Reid lifted his hand to touch his ear. "Do you think me getting shot has anything to do with the puzzle?" He asked. Tyler shrugged.

"Could be. Probably. Did anything else happen these days? Something weird?" Reid and Rachel shook their head. Tyler pulled out his cellphone and dialled Caleb's number. Rachel couldn't focus on the conversation, feeling too worried about her friend. The last time there was magic involved, things didn't end too good for her, even though it could've been way worse. Rachel really didn't feel like trying it again. She felt an arm around her and looked to her left. Reid had sat down beside her and pulled her close. She sobbed, just once, and felt his arms tighten around her. She knew he had to be just as scared as she was, and was grateful for his help.

"It'll be alright." Reid murmured in her ear. "We'll find Lizzie, and she'll be alright. She'll say she's sorry, I'll say I'm sorry, and everything will turn out the way it was supposed to be."

They both knew it was a fairytale.

* * *

><p>Lizzie truly didn't know what she was doing. Inside her head, she could her a voice screaming, telling her to go back home and to apologize to Reid and Rachel, but somehow she just couldn't bring herself to listen to that voice. She could see herself moving around through the town, but she couldn't stop it. At first, she had thought she was dreaming, but deep inside she knew that wasn't true.<p>

She just didn't know what was.

She knew she had been herself during the breakfast, or at least, before they had ordered. She and Lizzie had laughed about Tyler and Reid, who were joking around about which one of them was the prettiest one. Of course, Rachel had voted for Reid and Lizzie for Tyler, simply because they wanted to annoy their boyfriend/fiancée. Of course, it hadn't worked, mainly because both boys knew all to well the girls just wanted to annoy them. It had, however, prolonged the discussion for a few more minutes.

And then suddenly… she had heard his voice. Jason. They had talked, and suddenly it was as if something took control of her. At first she hadn't even noticed it. Then it just was a weird feeling. And then, during her conversation with Rachel, it had taken full control, locking her up in a small part of her mind. She had heard herself yell at Rachel, had seen the hurt look on her friend's face. But she couldn't help. She wasn't strong enough to stop herself, to apologize. And as the time passed, her …warden had only become more stronger, as she became weaker. Now she had trouble just moving her eyes and focus on what there was to see.

So now she could only hope, pray, that Rachel would understand Lizzie would _never_ say anything like that. Lizzie loved Rachel like a sister and she loved the way Rachel always worried about everybody. It was what made her who she was.

"Hello, Lizzie. Such a surprise to see you here." Lizzie's eyes widened as she saw him there. Or at least, she thought they widened. But now she had completely lost control over her body. Her eyes couldn't widen anymore. Her body just stood there, while she was screaming at it to move.

"Oh, who am I kidding. We all know I'm not surprised. Well, if you would just come this way, please, so can we wait for your friends."

Lizzie walked forward, following Jason into a dark building. Lizzie didn't know what or where it was, because she could bring her eyes to look around anymore. She felt the fear crawling over her, like a thousand little spiders and she knew that she would be crying if she could.

It was as if she was in a dark room. She couldn't hear. She couldn't see. She couldn't smell. There was nothing. She wondered if this was like death. And who knew, maybe she was dead. After all, how could she know the difference? The only thing she could really feel was the fear. And so she clamped onto it. She feared, so she existed. She tried to think of everyone she cared about. Reid, Rachel, Brian, Tyler… their faces flashed in her mind, like a light.

_I love you. You'll find me. I'll see you again. I love you._ She thought to herself, repeating it to herself over and over again. She knew that when she would lose that thought, she would lose herself.

_You're stronger than this!_ She yelled to herself. _You can do this. You can handle this. _

_My name is Lizzie O'Neil. I'm nineteen years old. I live in New York. I was born in Boston and have lived there eighteen years. I am engaged to Reid Garwin. I have a mother and a little sister, who I have to visit as soon as I get the change. I have friends. Rachel, Tyler, Brian, Kate, Sarah, Caleb, Pogue. Pogue and Kate are engaged. I need to go to their wedding. I have to! I'm one of their bridesmaids! And Abe, Natasha, Simon, Max, Mark, Samuel, Ian, Marc, Will and Mischa. They are my friends. I have to see them again. I have to! _Lizzie was screaming at herself again, forcing herself to remember everything. To remember why she had to fight. For who she had to fight.

_And so I wont die. Because I don't want to die yet. I refuse to die. I'm stronger then any spell this idiot can put on me. He's just a loser! I can defeat him. I CAN! _

Lizzie tried to focus on her fingers, trying to move them. When that didn't work, she decided to simplify it a bit more. Her thumb. If she could learn to move her thumb, she could get out of there.

And so she started working on breaking the spell, while she kept reminding herself why she was fighting so hard and why she didn't have a choice.

_Just wait, Reid. I'll come back to you. I'll tell you how much I love you. Just wait. You'll see. _

* * *

><p><strong>Please review. I'm having a bit of a writer's block, so some advice or ideas would be appreciated. Also, I need to know what you guys like. <strong>

**So good news: My stories are being beta'd (is that the right word?). At least, A hidden Appearance and Spotlights. This means it's getting better ( I hope).**

**And please check out my newest story: Mistakes. It's a one-shot for Chase that I've had in mind for almost a year now. Just read, please? If you like this story, I'm sure you'll like that one as well, seeing as that one is way better. And please, please, please vote for the poll on my profile! I really need your opinion.**

**Oh, BTW: The story about the elephant painting is sort of how I paint. In fact, I learned how to sketch something that could be recognized (with a bit of imagination) as a bird when I wanted to make a squirrel. Yep, I'm a true artist. **

**I'll try to post the next chapter next Wednesday, since it's my birthday then (Yay, 16! Then I can finally drink alcohol... not that I like it or anything, but who cares...). Unfortunately, that's also my first day of school, and I still have four chapters of biology to learn. Gotta love vacation.  
><strong>


	5. Pick

**Here's a small trailer for the two stories I'm thinking about starting soon. Since I'm still not sure what to do with the next chapter of 'Spotlights', I figured I'd give you guys a small sneak-peak of my next story. Please tell me what you think, and if it's worth writing another chapter. Please vote on profile, or review! Ideas for Spotlights are welcome as well!  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Alternative 'A hidden Appearance'<strong>

Sometimes Rachel wondered if there was a point of her life. She had no dreams, at least no realistic ones, no purpose, no people to live for. She listened as the people around her laugh at another one of Reid's jokes. The blond boy, one of her brother's closest friends, seemed to enjoy making people laugh, even more if it annoyed the teacher as well. Again, he seemed to have reached his goal. Rachel tried to pay attention to the man in front of the classroom who was desperately trying to get everyone out of the vacation-mood and back into school mode. So far, it didn't go so well, although he was definitely making progress.

English never had been Rachel's favorite subject, not in the least, because it was one of the few classes her and her brother shared. It wasn't that she hated her brother, she thought. It was because _he _hated _her_.

Pogue Parry was one of the most popular kids in school. He and his three friends, Caleb Danvers, Reid Garwin and Tyler Simms, were the 'Sons of Ipswich', the descendants of the five men that had founded Ipswich back in the seventeenth century, seemed to share the place on the top of the food chain. Everyone wanted to be friends with them, to talk and joke with them. Every girl dreamed about them. And to everyone Rachel was nothing more than Pogue Parry's little sister, if they even noticed her existence.

In the past, there had been people who had tried to use her to get close to the sons, but it hadn't taken them long to realize their mistake. To Pogue, Rachel wasn't his little sister. She hadn't been in a long time. She was just the girl who happened to live in the same house as him, who cooked when his parents were out and who occasionally helped him with his homework, or did his homework for him, when Caleb was too busy for tutoring. Befriending her would take you further from the sons rather than closer. And so, everyone of her 'friends' had dropped her as soon as they figured that out.

She still remembered back when she was young how they used to play. Before Caleb and the others came into view, before he became a 'son', they were siblings. They played hide and seek and all sort of games Pogue used to come up with. He was good at that, always keeping her entertained. She had never been bored back then. Now she was so bored she hardly did anything beside schoolwork. Of course, she had tried, a long time ago. Her brother had started ignoring her when he turned thirteen, but the real trouble hadn't started until high school where people had soon learned to stay away from her if they wanted to stand a chance with the sons.

Sometimes Rachel wondered what it was that made people fall down at their feet. Even Reid, who acted like a man-whore, sleeping with almost everyone he wanted and who had made it clear various times that he didn't care about any body's feelings except for his own, was still treated like royalty. Alright, Rachel couldn't deny it, he was handsome, but he was a jerk. There was nothing in the way he acted that made him any different from Aaron Abbott, yet the latter was the school's jerk while Reid was one of the most wanted singles. It just didn't make any sense.

Anyway, Rachel had tried to make friends. She had gone to some parties, talked to people and did everything in her power to catch someone's attention, in a positive way at least. But it just didn't seem to matter, so she had given up and accepted her invisibility. And so here she was, sitting in the back of the classroom, scared about the future. It was her senior year, the last year of high school. This year she had to pick a college, while she still didn't have a clue what she wanted to do in life. She didn't even know if her parents were going to pay for it or if they would just kick her out of the house as soon as she turned eighteen. Well, probably not the latter. They were one of the richest families in Massachusetts, and they had kept up appearances. Kicking their daughter out of the house might cause some problems for them.

The bell rang, and Rachel grabbed her stuff joining the line of students on their way to their next class.

The Spencer Academy was a school for the rich ones, something Rachel wouldn't complain about. Sometimes a small voice in her head would ask her if she really thought it was fair, building a school with an indoor swimming pool and recording studio while there were people starving somewhere, but it wasn't like she could change anything about that. She was only seventeen after all, so she had decided to just let it go.

The music department of the Spencer Academy had its own building. There were three classrooms, two record studios and a 'music-room', filled with various instruments. Rachel didn't do much with the instruments. Although she could play a few standard tunes on the piano, she wasn't very good with instruments. Singing, however, was another story.

Miss Anderson, the teacher, gave Rachel a small wave and then pointed to one of the groups in the corner. Rachel nodded in understanding and walked to the group. This was Ms. Anderson's usual way of teaching; she'd divide the more experiences students into groups and let them go their own way, as long as they'd be ready to perform three songs at the end of the semester. She'd teach the other students, the new ones or the ones who really didn't have any talent, a few things. How to stand when you sing, how to read notes, that sort of thing. Of course they had some theory to learn, but Ms. Anderson was convinced they could learn that by their selves, since it was just a matter of reading the textbook once in a while. Most students were very content with that method. In her freshman year, Rachel had a teacher, Mr. Brook, who spent all their time reading from the textbook. Most people had fallen asleep during those lessons.

"Hey Rachel." Tom, a nice junior, greeted her. Rachel remembered she wasn't as invisible as she had told herself before. She had the tendency to forget that after spending almost an entire vacation moping in her room. In her music class and her dance lessons after school, she was acknowledged.

Rachel looked around the group. Tom was the guitarist and the only junior of the group, Macy played the piano and Andrew drummed. She realized, with some pride, she was put into the best group of the class. Ms. Anderson always tried to put people with people of their own level, saying it was more challenging that way. She graded people by looking at their progress rather than their music, another one of the reasons everyone liked her.

"Do you think this is everyone?" Macy asked curiously. Andrew looked at a list in his hands and shook his head.

"No, Tyler is supposed to join us." Rachel groaned softly. Just her luck. She didn't doubt for one second it would be Tyler Simms. If it had been another Tyler, his last name would've been said as well.

Macy looked rather happy with that news. Rachel didn't need to ask why. Most girls were happy when a son was near. Rachel tried to think of different routes to escape. She could still swap classes, right? Or she could just pretend to be sick for the rest of the year… The door wasn't too far either.

"Hey, am I late?" Damn, too late.

"Hey Tyler." Andrew greeted him. "And no, you're just in time. Does anybody have any ideas for songs?" Rachel saw Tyler's eyes flickering her way and quickly looked away trying to focus her attention on Tom, who was searching for some songs on his phone.

"Nickelback is cool." He suggested. Andrew's eyes lit up. Rachel remembered he had played 'savin' me' last year. Everybody knew he was a fan of Nickelback.

"Sounds good." Macy agrees. "I love 'far away'. Can we play that one?" Andrew turned to look at Tyler.

"You okay with that?" Tyler nodded. "Rachel?" For a second, Rachel felt her heart flutter. She hadn't expected Andrew to ask her too.

"Sure." She answered quickly.

They spent the rest of the time searching for songs, listening to them, and writing the notes down. Luckily, the four that played the instruments could play a song after hearing it once, and lyrics were easy to find, so that didn't cause any problems. After some discussion, they choose 'Broken' by Seether and Amy Lee and 'I do not hook up' by Kelly Clarkson. Broken was a duet, so Tyler would sing there as well.

"One more thing." Andrew said, a few minutes before the bell. "In the last period, we have to perform a song we wrote ourselves. I suggest we all start working on that one as soon as possible." Tom smiled sheepishly.

"Agreed. Last year we couldn't come up with a song until about two days before the performance." Rachel couldn't suppress a grin. That did sound familiar. She looked back down at the pages with lyrics in her hand. Then the bell rang. Rachel put the papers in her schoolbag and walked out of the classroom, as fast as possible without actually running.

"Rachel! Rachel! Wait up!" When Rachel heard the voice calling her name, she stopped, simply because she was surprised anyone called for her. By the time she recognized the voice and started walking again, Tyler had caught up with her. He grabbed her arm and pulled, turning her around. He was smiling looking… _happy. _

"Uhm… hi?" Rachel asked carefully, wondering why he would ever come after her. In the five years he had been friends with her brother, she couldn't remember ever talking to him. Alright, maybe they had exchanged a few words, like 'hello, how are you?', simply to be polite. But they had never actually _talked_.

"Hey. You were gone pretty fast." Rachel simply shrugged. Tyler waited a few seconds to see if she'd say anything to explain herself, but when it was clear she wouldn't, he continued. "It's been awhile since I last sung, so I was wondering if you'd like to practice someday." He gave her a small smile. "I'd rather not screw it up in front of everybody."

Rachel hesitated. She really didn't feel like spending time with Tyler when it wasn't absolutely necessary and if she did, it probably wouldn't take long for the gossip to spread. On the other hand, it wasn't as if Tyler had actually ever done something to hurt her. Alright, he didn't talk to her much, but when he did he was always nice. She sighed softly.

"Fine. When?" Tyler hesitated.

"Uhm… how about this afternoon? Right after school at your house?"

"Sure." Rachel muttered, eager to end the conversation as soon as possible. "See you there." She tried to walk away, but Tyler stopped her by grabbing her arm again. Rachel tried to suppress a groan as she turned around.

"What?" She asked, slightly more agitated than she had intended. Tyler clearly wasn't used to people speaking to him like that.

"I… I just wondered if you'd like to sit with us at lunch." Rachel pulled her arm out of his grip.

"No thanks." She disappeared before he could stop her again. Tyler stared after her in confusion, wondering how two siblings could be so different.

"Hey, baby boy!" Tyler groaned as he heard his nickname again.

"I told you not to call me that, Reid." He snapped at his friend. Then he continued, in a friendlier voice. "Did you know Rachel sung?" Reid lifted an eyebrow.

"Rachel who?" Tyler stared at him in unbelief.

"Rachel Parry. You know, as in 'Pogue's little sister'?"

"Oh, she! She sings?" Tyler rolled his eyes, taking that as a 'no'.

"Yeah. Andrew says she amazing." Reid frowned and then shrugged.

"Huh. Good for her. I wonder what's for lunch." Tyler rolled his eyes and then followed Reid to the cafeteria.

Rachel had two hobbies: Singing and dancing. Singing had proven to be a challenge this year now that Tyler had joined the 'band', but she had sworn to herself that she wasn't going to let Tyler ruin it for her. But now that the final bell had rung, that didn't matter anymore. It was time for her second hobby.

As she walked into the gym she looked around wondering who else had signed up for dancing. There were about fifteen students, all waiting for the teacher to arrive. Rachel knew most of them, but there was one girl she hadn't seen before. This girl didn't seem to fit in with the rest, but not in a bad way. She was pretty enough, with blond hair and a body most girls would kill for. But Rachel could quickly see why the other girls seemed to avoid her: She was too real. Most girls in Spencer were tanned because they spent their entire afternoon in the sun bed. They were thin and had perfect faces because they had plastic surgery at least once a year, and their hair was blond because they dyed it. Especially the dance- and cheerleading group seemed to be filled with these girls for some reason. This girl was too real to fit in with the rest.

Rachel took her eyes of the girl and walked to the grandstand. She made sure to take a chair that wasn't too close to the others, to avoid their teasing. Although Rachel knew she was good, it wasn't enough for people to like her. In fact, it seemed to be the opposite: It made people jealous, so Rachel had soon learned to avoid the other girls.

"Uhm… Hey." Rachel looked up at the girl in front of her and recognized her as the new girl.

"Hi." She replied. The girl seemed to take that as an invite to sit down.

"I'm Sarah Wenham." She introduced herself.

"Rachel Parry. Are you new here?" Sarah's eyes lit up and then she nodded.

"Yeah, I transferred from Boston public. Are you by any chance family of Pogue Parry?" The fact that she said the last name of one of the sons proved just how new she was. Anyone with a little bit experience knew everyone would know who she or he was talking about by just saying the first name.

"He's my brother." Rachel said, trying not to make her voice sound to cold. After all, it wasn't Sarah's fault she and her brother didn't get along. Sarah looked surprised.

"Really? I didn't know he had a sister." Rachel shrugged and watched the teacher come in, carrying a couple CD's .

"Well, he doesn't really like me, so he mostly just tries to forget about me." She replied without really thinking about her words. Normally, she'd try to avoid saying things like this because it would most likely be the cause of a lot of gossip.

"What do you mean 'he doesn't really like you'?" Sarah asked confused.

"He hates me." Rachel simply replied while jumping up from the stand. The lesson started.

* * *

><p><strong>Unknown<strong>

* * *

><p>"Hey Abbott. You look happy today. What happened? Did you finally realize that Kira is cheating on you?" Aaron gritted his teeth, knowing he would get kicked out the swim team if he would start a fight during training.<p>

"Kira can't cheat on me if there's nothing between us. But how about Tyler? Has your lover finally figured what you're doing when you're not with him?" Personally, he was quite content with that comeback. That feeling only grew when there was no response.

"Garwin! Abbott! Get your asses in the pool! NOW!" Aaron cursed when he realized that he had missed the previous warning. He and Garwin quickly took their places, waiting for the signal. Then all the swimmers dived in, swimming as fast as they could.

Aaron closed his eyes as he felt himself flying through the water. The rush of the game. He was fast, he knew that, but there were more fast swimmers. And, reluctantly, he had to admit Garwin was one of them.

He touched the wall and started the last length, not wasting any time by checking how far the others were. Instead he just pushed all his strength into his movements. He knew he was flying through the water, and he couldn't suppress a grin. He really loved swimming. He touched the wall, panting as he looked around him to search for his teammates.

He was the first.

The coach pulled him out of the water, patting him on the back before telling him his time. Aaron started to grin. As he had predicted before the training started, swimming had helped him to feel better. He watched as the others climbed out of the pool. Reid was clearly angry about loosing, even though there barely was a difference between his time and Aaron's. Again, Aaron couldn't suppress a grin. Not that he really tried. After looking at Reid for a second, with a huge smirk on his face, just to rub his conquest in the blonds' face, he turned his back to the pool and walked away. He wanted to get rid of that chlorine-smell around him.

* * *

><p><em>"It was a mistake, alright? How many times do I have to say I'm sorry?" Aaron looked up from his schoolwork when he heard the yells coming from downstairs. What were his parents talking about? He quickly jumped us and rushed downstairs, anxious to find out. It wasn't unusual for his parents to be fighting, but they usually didn't scream that loud, wanting to keep it hidden from 'the kids'. <em>

_ "Mom? Dad? Something wrong?" Simon, Aaron's older brother by two years asked with a frown on his face. Their father, Matthew, looked slightly startled. He hadn't realized that they had been that loud. _

_ "Now, Simon, it's nothing." He quickly tried to reassure his children. Their mother, Anna, huffed. _

_ "I'm sure it's nothing to suddenly find out that my husband for nearly twenty-five years has had a relationship with another woman!" Simon and Aaron stared at their father, full of unbelief._

_ "Dad?" Aaron asked after a minute of complete silence. Doubt filled his voice. "Dad? Is that true?" Matthew hesitated for a second, trying to avoid the glare from his wife and the hurt looks of his children. _

_ "It's complicated." He finally whispered, so soft that Simon and Aaron could barely hear it. "but yes, in some way, it is true." Aaron shared a look with his brother. _

_ "What do you mean, in some way?" Simon's voice became harder and Matthew could hear the anger in it. Matthew looked at his wife, searching for support, but she simply looked away. Then she walked out of the room. Matthew sighed softly and then motioned his children to sit on the couch. Aaron and Simon looked at each other again, silently discussing what to do. Then they walked forward and sat down, side by side. Their father took place in front of them. _

_ "It happened about eighteen years ago. Aaron, you were just a baby. About three months or so. Your mom and I got into a fight, and she left. Took you with her. There never was a divorce, but to me it felt like one. And I just couldn't cope. So I tried to work as hard as I could. Finally, one of my colleagues came to me and asked me if I was alright. It was late, everyone else had already gone home. And I guess, I just broke. I started crying, and she supported me." _

_ Simon huffed silently, and Matthew send his children an apologizing look before continuing his story. _

_ "She took me out for dinner to talk to me, and I agreed. After that, we agreed to meet again. And then… we'll, you can guess that part. After a few months, your mom came back again, giving me another chance. I broke things of with Cindy, but never told Anna about her." _

_ "So why now?" Aaron asked gruffly. His father looked down at the floor, and Aaron suddenly realized that the message would get worse. Way worse. _

_ "She died in a car accident a few days ago. Leaving her daughter behind. She's almost seventeen." It didn't take the two children long to do the math._

_ "You sure?" Aaron asked with a whisper. This was just too much to take. He had a sister. His father looked wretched. _

_ "They did a test." His answer was even softer then the question. Simon jumped up without another word, running upstairs. Aaron hesitated for a second before following his brother._

* * *

><p>And the last, of which I only have a small idea:<p>

* * *

><p><em>When Reid was fifteen, he made a girl think he loved her, just to get her to sleep with him. She moved away, but now she's back: And she isn't alone. Does she speak the truth when telling him he's her little brother, or does the covenant have a new generation? And if they do, how will they convince the girl to let them help her with her witchy son?<em>

**Yes, I know, not exactly original. But who cares. Please tell me which story you want to read more about. Again, Spotlights will be updated, but it'll take some time. These stories might keep you busy. **_  
><em>


	6. Chapter 5

_**Found**_

* * *

><p><strong>Previously:<strong>

_It was as if she was in a dark room. She couldn't hear. She couldn't see. She couldn't smell. There was nothing. She wondered if this was like death. And who knew, maybe she was dead. After all, how could she know the difference? The only thing she could really feel was the fear. And so she clamped onto it. She feared, so she existed. She tried to think of everyone she cared about. Reid, Rachel, Brian, Tyler… their faces flashed in her mind, like a light._

* * *

><p><strong>Now:<strong>

* * *

><p>Rachel sat on the couch, with Brian in her lap. Sarah and Kate were whispering to each other, but Rachel didn't bother listening. She only saw one thing; the spell the four boys were doing on the ground in front of her.<p>

They had already tried four different spells within the last four hours and Rachel was certain she wasn't the only one starting to doubt their chances of success. Her eyes flickered to a picture on the table beside the couch. It was taken after the show a couple weeks back and they were all in it. Rachel was standing between Pogue and Tyler, with Reid right behind her. The couples were clearly recognizable in the picture. Pogue had his arms wrapped around Kate, Sarah and Caleb were lost in each others eyes, love evidently in their faces and Tyler gave Rachel a kiss on the cheek. Reid and Lizzie, acting like the clowns they were, had chosen a different way to prove to the world they belonged together. Lizzie was sitting on Reid shoulders and Reid was kissing her knee.

Rachel couldn't hold the smile from her face, but she didn't notice she was crying until she felt a hand on her shoulders. She looked up at Kate, who looked down on her with a small, sad smile.

"They will find her." She whispered softly. "They won't give up until they do." Then Sarah joined them, lifting Brian from Rachel's lap and pulling him in his arms. The boy was fast asleep. Kate wrapped her arms around Rachel and the two girls held each other as tight as they could.

Rachel couldn't say how long they sat like that, but finally they were pulled apart when Reid gasped loudly.

"Shit." He hissed, his voice filled with unbelief.

"This is not good." Caleb muttered softly and immediately Sarah was by his side. Kate and Rachel got up from the couch, moving to stand beside their respective boyfriends.

"What's wrong?" Kate asked Pogue worriedly. "Didn't you find her?" Pogue and Caleb shared a look and then Caleb sighed.

"Not really. We were looking for magic. But the only problem is that there seemed to be thousands of warlocks in this town. And we don't know how to find Jason in the middle of all of them."

"I thought you guys could feel magic." Rachel whispered to Tyler. He didn't get a change to reply, as Caleb had heard the question as well.

"We can. But somehow they managed to keep it hidden from us. That's probably the reason those other spells didn't work."

"So what now?" Sarah's voice was weak and she sounded like she was about to give up. Rachel saw the glare Reid shot at her and realized the boy was about to do something very stupid.

She was right.

His eyes turned black. Rachel knew she didn't have time to think it through and so she did the first thing that came up in her mind.

She jumped.

Her arms were wrapped around his neck as she hid her face in his shoulders. She had done this before, just once, a very long time ago. After that, she had sworn never to do it again.

Teleporting wasn't very nice. Rachel suspected it took her body a bit longer to realize it wasn't in his previous place anymore, which then caused her stomach to do some sort of twirl inside her. She threw up.

"Are you out of your mind?" Reid hissed at her. She glared back at him, using the back of her hand to wipe of her mouth.

"Listen who's talking. You were the one who decided to just jump into the unknown. Real smart, Reid. Didn't you think making a plan would've been a good idea?"

"Yeah, 'cause that worked SO well for us in the past. We spent the last five hours trying to come up with a plan, and it didn't do shit. And by the way, how did you know what I was about to do?"

Rachel rolled her eyes. "You're very predictable. So, where are we, and why are we here?"

Reid blinked, then looked around. "Don't know. I just thought of Lizzie and…" He trailed of, his eyes narrowing. Rachel looked around, trying to find some sort of clue. Then she groaned.

"Fan-fucking-tastic." She hissed. "Alright, let's go find Lizzie."

* * *

><p>Reid knew he should say something. He should tell her to go home, or, even better, send her home. Tyler would kill him for this, if Pogue wouldn't get to him faster. He knew it was dangerous and he was leading Rachel right into it.<p>

But teleporting someone against their will could be dangerous. His father had told him that it held the risk that the other person would have a different destination in mind, which meant that he, or in this case, she, could end up in Australia. Or Mars. And Reid didn't have the time to get Rachel to go home willingly. She was almost as stubborn as her older brother. So he decided to just let her go. After all, she was eighteen. She could take care of herself.

_Not against warlocks._ A small voice in his mind hissed at him.

"Reid!" He spun around when he heard Rachel's call and immediately he started to run towards the sound.

"Rachel?"

"Here!" Finally he saw her, standing in a dark corner. She turned when she heard his footsteps and tossed him something. Reid caught it and looked at it. And for a second, he could've sworn his heart stopped beating.

It was Lizzie's engagement ring. His head snapped up.

"She's been here." He whispered. Rachel nodded, tears in her eyes. But Reid didn't have the time to comfort her. He spun around and his eyes turned black again in search for anything else that could bring him closer to his fiancée.

And then he realized there was something wrong. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he knew he could trust his instincts.

"Rachel?" He asked her slowly. She looked at him. There were still tears in her eyes, but now he could also see a shimmer of hope. "Does this building look to small for you?" Rachel frowned and then looked at the walls.

"What do you mean?" Reid looked around, searching for a door. When he found one he walked towards it, beckoning Rachel to follow him. She did without questioning him. Outside, his eyes turned black again and he and Rachel flew up. They soared above the building and Rachel gasped.

"You're right. She whispered. In a flash, they were back inside. Reid ran to a wall, but before he had a change to blast it aside, Rachel's hand touched his shoulder.

"Careful." She warned him. "Lizzie could be inside." Reid was furious at himself for not thinking about that, but he pushed the feeling aside. And the a small part of the wall disappeared. Rachel stared at it in amazement, while Reid was already moving to the opening.

"Lizzie?" He called out. "Lizzie? Are you here?"

She was. He saw her standing in the corner, but instead of running towards her, he froze. She was staring right at him, her eyes emotionless, while Jason was kissing her neck. Very slowly, the boy turned, moving away from Lizzie.

"Hello, lover." Lizzie greeted him in a voice that definitely wasn't hers. Then her eyes moved away from him, looking at something behind him, and she smirked. "Ah, I see you brought a friend. Tyler is going to kill you for that, you know."

Jason laughed. "I don't plan on giving him the chance, sweetheart. That would take my fun away, don't you think?"

"Let her go." Reid hissed at Jason, but he simply smiled.

"Now why would I do that? She's so much fun to play with! You know, at first I wanted to go after sweet Rachel there. We all thought Baby Boy would be the easiest target. But when I met this girl, WHAM!" He laughed, shaking his head. "Well, I just couldn't stay away anymore. She didn't seem to mind, either." Reid was shaking with anger now.

"You're a dead man!" He snarled. Jason simply laughed.

Then he launched himself at Reid, at the same time as Lizzie attacked Rachel. Reid looked at his sister for just a second, worried she might not be able to handle herself.

"You can only save her by defeating him!" Rachel reminded him, trying to avoid Lizzie's fists at the same time. Reid heard a crack in his nose as Jason's fist hit him, but he ignored the pain. Instead he focused on Rachel's word, knowing they were true. He nodded, more to himself then to her and when Jason moved to punch him again, he grabbed his arm and used his own strength to spin him around. After that, Reid kicked him in the hollow of the knee, causing the boy to fall down on his knees. Jason and Reid were both gasping for breath, but Reid knew he could beat the guy. He had fought many times, after all, and there weren't many fights he had lost. And now that he could use his magic without worrying about exposing the covenant, he knew he was unbeatable.

Jason flew through the air, landing against the wall head first. Before the boy had a chance to come up again, Reid was on top of him, landing punch after punch and using his legs to keep him down.

"You are going to die for what you did to her." He snarled. Jason laughed again, starting to sound like a madman. He didn't get a chance to give a smart comeback, however, since Reid hadn't stopped punching him.

"Reid!" Rachel's voice behind him wasn't enough to pull him out of his anger. All he saw was a red haze.

"Reid!" He heard his name again. And this time he did stop.

"Lizzie?" He asked her softly. She ran towards him, jumping in his arms. He pulled her close, spinning her around.

And he didn't even try to hide the tears.

A soft cough pulled Lizzie and him apart. Reid stared at Rachel in shock. Then he groaned.

"Tyler's going to kill me." He muttered. Lizzie's eyes were widened as she took in her friend's appearances.

"I'm so sorry!" She cried out. "I'm so, so, so sor…..!"

"It's alright." Rachel laughed. "It wasn't you, so you can't be blamed." Lizzie jumped forward, hugging her friend, still muttering how sorry she was.

"So what are we going to do about him?" Rachel asked Reid when she finally got Lizzie to shut up. Reid turned to look at the boy on the ground. He was unconscious, which probably explained why the spell didn't work anymore.

"I have an idea." He hissed. Rachel hesitated, not sure whether she was alright with murder, even in this case. And at that exact moment, Jason groaned and opened his eyes. Lizzie quickly grabbed Reid's hand, before he had a chance of finishing his previous task. Rachel kneeled down beside him. He could hardly move, so she was pretty sure he wasn't much of a threat anymore.

"Who are you working for?" She hissed at him. Reid frowned, wondering where she got the idea he wasn't working alone.

"What are you talking about?" He hissed back.

"You said you all thought Tyler would be the easiest target. So tell me, who are you working for?" One second, Rachel could see the fear in his eyes. She knew he wasn't afraid of them, he had proven that before. Her best guess was that he really shouldn't have told them about the rest of his group. Then he laughed a maniacal laugh.

"They are going to kill you, you know. I'm no one, but they… they can't be defeated. The fathers will raise their hands and the sons will flow over this land and kill everyone who gets in their way. You will die and they will hold the power that was rightfully theirs!"

"He's nuts." Lizzie whispered to Reid. He nodded in agreement. Jason laughed again.

"Rachel!" Rachel flew through the air, away from Jason as Reid cried out her name. She jumped to her feat, wondering why Reid had done that. But both Reid and Lizzie were staring down at Jason.

He was holding a dagger in his hands.

"I will my life to my fathers!" He whispered. And he stabbed the dagger into his heart.

* * *

><p>"So basically we have a bunch of lunatics after us." Reid summarized the story. His arms were wrapped around Lizzie, holding her as tight as he could. He hadn't let her go since they arrived back at Rachel and Tyler's house.<p>

The same went for the other guys. Pogue held Kate, Caleb held Sarah and Rachel was wrapped in Tyler's embrace, while holding Brian in her arms. At times like this you had to keep your family close, Rachel thought.

"So what do we do?" Sarah asked in small voice, looking up at Caleb as she always seemed to do when she was looking for guidance. The dark-haired boy looked around the room, watching the worried expressions on the faces of his friends. He was the oldest. He was the one who needed to think of an answer.

"We stay close to each other." He finally replied. "Don't let anyone outside this group close to you. We don't know who we can trust. Since we can assume these 'fathers', or whatever they're called, will sent new people after us, it's important we avoid strangers, alright? If anything, _anything, _strange happens you call the others immediately, got it?"

For once in his life, Reid didn't say a word. Instead he pressed his lips against Lizzie's hair. She didn't look at him, eyes focused on Caleb. She was still a bit shaken up about her kidnapping, that much was obvious, but Rachel was certain she'd get over it. Lizzie was strong, she could handle it.

"Are you staying here for awhile, or are you going back?" Tyler asked Caleb, Pogue, Kate and Sarah. The four shared a glance, hesitating.

"I can't miss anymore school." Pogue said softly. He didn't feel to good about leaving his two brothers, his sister and the girl who was really close to becoming his sister behind. Still, he knew he didn't really have a choice. After all, what was there to do? There was no saying when their enemies would attack again and so there was no point in waiting around for something to happen.

"We'll call you as soon as something happens." Rachel promised her older brother. He smiled and walked towards her to say goodbye. She got up from the couch, handing Brian to Tyler and gave him a big hug.

"I'll miss you." He mumbled in her ear.

"You too." She replied. "But we'll be fine. Don't worry."

"Please be careful." Caleb warned his friends one last time. "We don't know how strong their magic us, so please, don't go looking for a fight." At these words he was staring directly at Reid, who was scowling a bit.

* * *

><p>Brian was fast asleep, but Rachel had refused to lay him in his cradle. She couldn't let him go, she said. And Tyler couldn't blame her.<p>

"Nobody will hurt him." He whispered in her ear. "I promise you. I won't let anyone hurt either of you." She looked up at him with a small smile, but the tears were evident in her eyes.

"I know." She whispered. "But he isn't the only one I'm worried about. I know you and Reid would die before you'd let anyone touch Brian, Lizzie or me. But I don't think I could live with you dead." Tyler said down beside her, pulling her in his arms ones again.

"Then I won't die." He whispered. "As long as you need me, I'll be here. It's that simple."

"I need you. I'll always need you."

"I know. I love you." Rachel laid her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. For just a second, she felt at peace. Tyler kissed her crown. "Go to bed." He whispered. "You have to sleep."

"I'll only have nightmares."

"No you won't. I'll be there, remember? I'll protect you."

"And Brian?" Tyler placed a hand on the hand of the little boy in her arms.

"He'll be save. I already placed some spells on the entire house." This time, when he moved to take Brian out of her arms, she didn't object. He carried the boy to his cradle and placed him in it. "Goodnight son." He whispered, pressing his lips against Brian's forehead.

That night, Rachel didn't have any nightmares. Tyler had kept his promise and she was save.

But in the apartment next door, Lizzie got up out of her bed in the middle of the night. For a second, she looked down on Reid. Then she grabbed some clothes from the wardrobe, changed and left the building.

She didn't go home again that night.

* * *

><p><strong>Something I forget to do a lot: Although I like to dream, I do not own the Covenant. I only own the plot, Rachel, Lizzie and a few other characters you do not recognize from the movie. <strong>

**I'm BEGGING YOU! PLEASE REVIEW! I know there is more then one person out there reading, yet there only seems to be one who thinks it's worth a review. I know there's something wrong with this story, but I need some feedback to fix it. SO PLEASE HELP ME!**

**One a brighter note, I finally decided how this story is going to end, which hopefully means the updates will come more frequently now. Unfortunately, I can't promise anything. My teachers seem to be trying to bury me with homework, and so it seems I'm either at school, doing homework or sleeping. (Everyone who can relate say 'aye')**

**But just three more weeks till I get a week vacation (YAY!), and after that I'm going to Rome! YES, I SAID ROME! How awesome is that? **

**Please forgive me for my rambling, but there's one more thing I wanted to know: Does anyone outside of Holland now Geert Wilders, and if you do, what do you think about his ideas? I'm normally not really interested in politics, but I was just curious about his reputation in the world. I'd really appriciate it if someone would reply to this!**

**Who knows, it might just buy you a preview. **

**Oh, almost forgotten: You can still vote about which story you want to read (see previous chapter), only I removed the poll since no one seemed to vote (except for one person, who I thank very, very much)  
><strong>


	7. Chapter 6

"What are you doing?" Reid asked amused, as he watched his girlfriend, who was leaning against the wall with her eyes closed. She hadn't been to school for a few days and had even quit her job, claiming she didn't feel good and that she needed a few days, or weeks, to pull herself together. This was the first time Reid saw her out off bed.

"Shhh!" Lizzie hissed playfully at him. "I'm trying to listen here." Reid lifted an eyebrow and say down beside her, placing his ear against the wall as well.

"HOW COULD YOU!"

"I didn't do anything!"

"DON'T YOU DARE LIE TO ME! I KNOW THERE WAS NO MEETING!"

Reid removed his ear from the wall again and turned back to his girlfriend.

"You do realise it isn't very nice to eavesdrop on people, right?" Lizzie shrugged.

"She's always bullying Rachel about Brian, so next time I'll just ask her if she knows where her husband was the day before." Reid laughed and moved forward to kiss her on the lips. Quickly, Lizzie turned her head and Reid pulled back again. This wasn't the first time something like this had happened, and he was really starting to worry about her. Tyler had said he just needed to take things slow and wait until Lizzie was ready to talk about what had happened, but he had never been a very patient man.

"Rachel and I are going out tonight." Lizzie told him while standing up. "Don't wait up." With those words she walked into their bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Reid hit the wall with his fist.

"Bad timing?" He turned around to see Rachel and Tyler standing in the door opening. Quickly getting up, he shook his head and answered.

"Great timing actually. Tyler, we need to talk. Now." Rachel lifted her eyebrows, but didn't ask anything.

"Alright." She said instead. "Then I'll just go find Lizzie."

"Bedroom." Reid said simply, while grabbing Tyler's wrist and pulling him outside. Tyler didn't ask any questions and just followed his friend to his and Rachel's apartment.

"She still won't let me kiss her." Reid snapped at his friend after closing the door behind him. "She won't even let me near. What the fuck did I do?"

"Well that would be the million dollar question, wouldn't it?" Tyler and Reid spun their heads around, staring at Lizzie in shock. She looked at them, with so much sarcasm that Reid started to feel like his head was exploding. Lizzie huffed and turned around, facing her friend, who looked just as surprised as the two boys.

"You coming, Rachel?" Lizzie asked, before moving towards the door without waiting for an answer. Rachel hesitated, staring at Reid and Tyler as if she was waiting for permission. Tyler nodded to her, knowing it would be a really bad idea to let Lizzie leave the apartment on her own. The girl obviously wasn't thinking straight, and it would be a matter of time before she'd do something stupid. It had been proven long ago that Rachel was the only one who could really calm Lizzie, even it was just because of Lizzie's want to protect Rachel.

"Have….fun." Tyler told his girlfriend, while his brain was still spinning, knowing that Reid would soon turn to _him_ for answers about Lizzie's behaviour. Rachel nodded as a greeting to them, before running out of the door, hurrying to find her friend before she'd take off. Tyler sighed softly, before turning back to Reid, trying to form a coherent sentence.

"Reid…." He started softly, but Reid shook his head.

"Save it, baby boy." Reid stood up from the couch, walking out of the door without looking back. Tyler groaned softly and fell back into the couch. He really wished Pogue or Caleb would be there. Or maybe Sarah. After all, she was studying for fixing these kind of situations, right?

* * *

><p>Rachel followed Lizzy to the cab that was waiting right in front of the door to the apartment building. Apparently, Lizzy had called for one a while ago.<p>

"Liz…" She started, but Lizzy completely ignored her friend while getting in the car. She didn't close the door, instead waiting for her friend to follow her. Rachel hesitated again, but then complied. "Where are we going?" She asked, realizing she would never get an answer to the question 'what the hell is wrong with you?'. Lizzy shrugged.

"I don't know yet. Let's just follow the music, I'm sure we'll find some fun place to party." Rachel frowned, but didn't object. She decided it was probably best to follow Lizzy and to try and keep her out of trouble. Which was probably going to cost her all of the energy she had saved up during the morning. Sometimes, Lizzie didn't know which was more tiresome: four witchy brothers, or one insane friend.

"So, you and Reid had an argument?" She could see the taxi driver listening intensively, but decided she didn't really care. After all, it wasn't like he knew them, there wasn't really something she could do about it and, well, let's face it; times like these were probably the most exiting thing he would have all day.

"It's nothing." Lizzie replied curtly. Rachel groaned softly, rolling her eyes.

"Sure…. I mean, you're only engaged, so it isn't like you're relationship is that far along that you should be able to work these things out instead of running away from them." Lizzie glared at her, but didn't reply. Rachel glared back with just as much intensity, until Lizzie finally turned away and stared out of the window instead. "Liz…." Rachel sighed, finally caving. "You know how I hate seeing you two fight!" Lizzy turned around again, guilt evident on her face.

"I know, Rachel. And I'm truly sorry. But…. I don't know, it's just that after all that has happened, I just really feel like… like I need some space. And he's just not giving it to me, you know?" Rachel felt like her heart was breaking, because she could hear the tears Lizzy refused to cry in her voice.

"I understand, Liz, I really do. But he's only trying to help you. And for the past two weeks, he's given you all the space you asked for. So maybe now you just have to…. Well, I don't know, talk to him about it or something." Rachel silently cursed herself, really wishing she wouldn't sound like such a self-help book or something. Judging from Lizzie's face, she was thinking the same thing.

"Nice, Rachel. Really, that was beautiful." Lizzie was grinning now, and Rachel couldn't suppress her own smile.

"Shut up."

"No, really, I mean it. I mean, that was just _full_ of inspiration."

"You're hopeless."

"You love me."

"I know, how sick is that?" The two girls laughed, finally forgetting all the drama of the last two weeks and enjoying the bliss that, as they both knew, would only last for a very short while.

"So where are we going again?" Lizzie looked out of the window again, before leaning forwards.

"Stop here." She commanded, in her normal, polite way. The cab pulled to a stop, and Lizzie quickly got out, motioning Rachel to follow her before turning back to the cabby. "Wait for a second, alright?" She handed him some money, causing him to nod enthusiastically. Lizzie grinned at him, before turning around and walking into the building behind her. Rachel frowned, but followed nevertheless.

"Liz…?" She asked softly. She heard the echo of her voice, before the sound faded away. Then her eyes widened, recognizing the building. It was where Reid and her and found Lizzie.

"Liz, what's going on?" Again, only the echo replied. Lizzie seemed to have disappeared in the dark.

"Liz!" She knew she was starting to sound desperate, but honestly, she was. Something, some small voice in her head, was telling her to run. That perhaps, Lizzie had never been completely cured, that whatever thing had controlled still was deciding every move she made.

"Oh, don't be a baby." Lizzie laughed, appearing out of a corner wearing a… well, you could call it a dress. Only it had the size of a shirt. "Let's go, I need some fun." Lizzie walked out of the door before Rachel really had a change to grasp the situation.

Yeah. This was NOT going to end well.

* * *

><p>Rachel had been proven wrong many times, and she was starting to believe this was one of those times, something she was quite content with. She had danced with a few guys, never staying with one for more then one dance to avoid the whole awkward talk of 'I already have a boyfriend'. She had lost Lizzie a while ago, but wasn't that worried. After keeping an eye on the girl for over an hour without needing to pull her back from a bad situation once, Rachel decided she needed some fun as well. Right now she was dancing with a handsome blond who actually knew how to dance, unlike her previous dance partners. Rachel was testing him, throwing in some difficult moves to see how far he could keep up. It didn't take him long to get the game, and soon they became entangled in a playful dance battle. Lizzie had been right, Rachel thought to herself. She did need some time away from Reid and Tyler.<p>

The boy, whose name she hadn't learned yet, spun her around and Rachel laughed as he caught her again. Then the song changed and she excused herself, pulling away from him to go and find Lizzie.

"Ah, come on!" The boy whispered in her ear. "I was having fun!"

Rachel grinned. Although she refused to think about herself as a slut, she did like it when boys tried to win her over. On occasion. When Tyler wasn't watching.

"Sorry." She replied sweetly, pulling away from him. He didn't follow her any longer and turned around, in search of a new girl to dance with. Rachel moved through the crowd without trouble. She had been to these kind of parties many times before, and she was starting to get the hang of it. But no matter how experienced she was, it still took her a lot of time to find her friend. Finally, she saw her, dancing in the arms of some guy. And then she watched how Lizzie leaned forward and pressed her lips against the boys mouth. Rachel froze.

She could still remember the bets that went around when Lizzie and Reid first started dating. Both had the reputation of being a bit of a player, so no one really expected it to last. No one, except for Rachel that is. Somehow she had always seen the two as 'the perfect couple', like they were born to be together. But it had been years, and neither one of them ever screwed up. At least, not as far Rachel knew. Not until now.

She forced herself to move and she walked towards the couple. Grabbing Lizzie's wrist, she pulled her friend away from the guy.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She hissed angrily, making sure not to speak to loud. She didn't want anyone to overhear the conversation, even though she hadn't seen anyone she knew yet. Lizzie's eyes were wide, and the girl seemed to hesitate. "You're ENGAGED!" Rachel nearly snarled at her friend. She moved to grab Lizzie's hand, to show her the ring, but her hand stopped mid-air.

She wasn't wearing the ring. Rachel's eyes remained focussed on Lizzie's left hand for a few seconds, before she finally looked back up to her face.

"Where is your ring?" She asked, completely shocked. Kissing a boy was a … well, not exactly a mistake. Lizzie clearly wasn't drunk yet, so there really was no excuse for that. But the fact that she wasn't wearing her engagement ring meant that Lizzie had been planning on cheating on Reid all along. And that was more then Rachel could handle. She looked her friend in the eye, waiting for the explanation.

"I… I just…" The girl stammered, eyes filled with shock and something very close to confusing, like she wasn't that sure of what had just happened either. But Rachel had known her friend for a very long time. No matter what Lizzie did, she always thought it through. Rachel took a step back, shaking her head softly.

"I'm going home." She whispered. "I'll see you later." She turned her back to Lizzie and walked away.

"Please don't tell Reid!" Lizzie called after her, but Rachel ignored the girl. The tears were stinging in her eyes and everything was spinning way out of control. Her life was seriously messed up.

When she got into the cab, she said nothing except for the address. The driver tried talking to her, but she couldn't even bring herself to listen. Her best friend had cheated on her brother, and she was the only one who knew. Should she tell Reid? Or should she hope that Lizzie would do that for herself, to give them a change to fix this?

The drive to her apartment took about half an hour and when she got out of the car, she nearly forgot to pay the driver. She mumbled a quick apology, and then walked back upstairs, where she crawled into her bed. Tyler wasn't home yet, probably still working on Reid. Reid, who loved his girlfriend so much just having her yelling at him could bring him on the brink of tears. What would he do if he found out she had been cheating on him?

When Tyler got home that night, he found Rachel in her bed. She was still wearing her clothes and judging from the make-up on her face, she had been crying. Tyler sat down next to her, stroking the hair out of her face. Then he pressed his lips against her forehead and tucked her. After making sure Brian was fast asleep, he got in next to her, pondering over the exact same question as everyone else.

What the hell was wrong with Lizzie?

* * *

><p><strong>In case you're wondering, I do feel guilty. <strong>**I wanted to update months ago, but... well, make your pick:**

**1) I missed way to much school last year due to an illness, which means I'm basically doing two years in one. **

**2) My teachers love killing me and give me way to much homework**

**3) They added another ****week of exams, which means I'm basically studying 24/7 about now**

**4) No one reviewed the last chapter. It made me sad :(**

**5) I had a really depressed day yesterday, and when I went shopping to cheer myself up, I couldn't find anything worth the money. How is that supposed to help me get into the writers mood?  
><strong>

**Is it just me, or is way to much of the above about school? Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter. If you want the next on sooner, I'd suggest you review. PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEE**

**(no, I'm not desperate, where did you get that idea)**

**PS I might change the name of the story somewhere in the future. Yes, I know, I change names way to often, but well... I guess I just can't control myself.**

**The reviewers might just get a preview (if I can get myself to start writing the next chapter soon enough) and will hear a new idea I had in mind.  
><strong>


	8. Chapter 7

Tyler woke up around 6 am to a very annoying person banging against his door.

"Tyler!" A voice yelled and Tyler groaned. Face it: no one wants to be woken up at six in the morning by his big brother trying to knock down the door.

"'M coming, I'm coming. Just please…" He muttered to himself as he walked to the door to open it. Reid didn't waste any time with pleasantries and just barged in as soon as Tyler unlocked the door.

"She ran off, that's the only explanation. I pushed too hard, maybe it was something I said… Why won't she answer my calls? I mean, I was just trying to make things better. Why wouldn't she just tell me what was going on?"

"Reid?" Tyler groaned, trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes. "What the fuck are you talking about?" Reid stared at his brother, blinking once before realizing his baby brother had missed the introduction to his rant.

"Lizzie. She's gone." Then his eyes widened. "O shit! RACHEL! Is she home? What if they got kidnapped by those… what did we call them again? Those idiots who attacked Lizzie? The brothers or something? Is Rachel home?" Tyler had to suppress the sudden urge to slam Reid's head against the door a few times.

"She's home. Why wouldn't she be? And what do you mean Lizzie is gone?" Reid looked at his friend confused.

"She didn't come home! Why didn't she, I mean, if Rachel's home…"

"Reid?" Both boys turned when they heard Rachel's voice coming from the bedroom. "What did you say? Is Lizzy gone?" She sounded worried, and looked a lot more awake then Tyler. Reid nodded like a crazy man, walking towards his younger sister.

"Yeah, she didn't come home last night. Or maybe she walked out this morning."

"I doubt it." Tyler responded a bit cranky. "Seeing as it has only been morning for about two minutes and everything." Reid ignored him, instead focusing on Rachel.

"What happened last night?" He frowned, taking in her appearance. "And what happened to your face? Did you sleep in your clothes or something?" Rachel blinked surprised and looked down, taking in her own appearance.

"Uhm… I guess so. I think I was a bit out of it last night."

"Where you drunk?" Despite his worry about Lizzie, Reid found himself grinning. Rachel hit him against the head.

"Idiot. You know I'm too young to drink. And I haven't seen Lizzie since…" Rachel's eyes widened and she fell silent, suddenly realizing this was not the person she wanted to tell that story to.

Reid narrowed his eyes. "Since what?"

"Since… since we got out of the cab at the party." Rachel was so happy with that believable excuse, she completely forgot to look regretful, like she felt sorry about loosing her friend out of the eye like that. Unfortunately for her, that didn't make her lie that convincing.

"Uh-huh." Reid responded. "Rachel, my girlfriend's missing. Please stop lying." He was starting to sound a bit pissed, so Rachel quickly turned to Tyler for help. He looked at her with a hint of doubt, but still jumped forward to save the day.

"Come on, Reid. I'm sure it's nothing. If Rachel had known something about Lizzie not coming home, she would have told us, right, Rachel?" When both guys turned their eyes back to Rachel, the girl started to get nervous. After all, what she had seen was a pretty good explanation for Lizzie not coming home.

"Right." She muttered. Reid narrowed his eyes, while Tyler's widened. It wasn't like his girlfriend to lie about these kind of things.

"Rachel?" He asked carefully. "Anything you want to tell us?" Rachel felt like the little kid being called to the principal for cheating on a test or something. For one second, she considered sticking to her lie. But then she fully woke up.

Lizzie had run off. No one knew where too, and she was the only one of could think of a reason why. All changed of Lizzie telling Reid the truth and them making up were now gone. And this was something Reid had to know.

"I last saw her when she was kissing some guy at the party." She muttered softly. "I got mad and went home. I don't know what she did after that." She was to afraid to look up, not wanting to see Reid's face when he would realize his girlfriend had betrayed him. Finally, when things remained completely quiet, she dared to lift her head and take in her friends reactions.

And Reid started laughing. He started laughing so loud, he had to grab his stomach. It took him almost a minute to regain his composure.

"That's crazy." He replied, still grinning. "Lizzie wouldn't cheat on me. We're getting married!" He took in the faces of his two friends, one looking worried, the other one looking guilty. The grin slowly disappeared from his face, and he started shaking his head.

"No…." He whispered. "No, it's not possible."

"Reid…" Rachel started, her voice filled with pain and pity. He didn't allow her to complete the sentence.

"NO! You're lying! She wouldn't cheat on me! We love each other. We always will! You're just lying!" He screamed at and she started to cry. Even when the tears were streaming down her cheeks, she still kept her eyes focused on him, telling him the true story without words.

"No…" He whispered again, and when she still didn't defend herself he turned around and walked out of the door, ignoring Tyler's calls to come back. He didn't see how Rachel dropped to her knees, crying about loosing two friends in barely six hours. Tyler caught her in his arms, pulling her to his chest and telling her it would be alright. But this time, even his promises couldn't convince her anymore and then even he had to face the truth.

The covenant had been broken.

* * *

><p>The seventh day since the disappearance of Reid and Lizzie started exactly the same. Someone was banging against their door. Again, it was Tyler who opened the door, since Rachel had already left for a rehearsal for a musical she was playing in. And again, it was Reid. Only he completely wasted this time.<p>

"Hey, baby boy." He slurred, leaning against the doorframe to keep himself up. Tyler stared at him for a second, and then moved to let him in. "What are you doing in my apartment?" The blond boy asked, clearly confused. Tyler lifted an eyebrow, slightly relieved that Rachel wasn't there to see this.

"This is my apartment, Reid. Yours is next to this one." A small grin appeared on Reid face now that he had figured out the mystery of why Tyler was in his room.

"Right!" He turned around and for a second Tyler was afraid he would fall. "Gloria! That one is mine!"

"Gloria?" Tyler asked confused. A girl's giggle echoed through the abandoned hallway.

"It's Emma!" The girl laughed, clearly just as drunk as Reid was. Reid grinned at Tyler and then pulled the girl, who had appeared from his left, in his arms. They started making out and Tyler decided it was good time to close the door again. There were certain things he did not want to see. After a few minutes, he realized there were also some things he did not want to hear. He looked at his watch and shrugged. Well, it wasn't like a few extra hours in the library wouldn't hurt. So he took Brian to his day nursery and left for school.

He met with Rachel for lunch that afternoon, which turned out to be really smart. The idea of Rachel going home and seeing Reid completely drunk wasn't a very good one, so Tyler was glad he got an opportunity to warn her first.

"Hey!" Rachel greeted him with a kiss, before sitting down next to him in the booth. He smiled. Even after all these years, he still felt the happiness exploding within him whenever he saw her.

The waitress brought their lunch, which Tyler had already ordered, and Rachel and he enjoyed their food for a few silent minutes.

"So," Tyler started the conversation. "How are the rehearsals going?" Rachel beamed up at him.

"Great!" She replied. "There are still a few people making mistakes in the 'rainbow song', but it's getting better. So I guess I'll finally be home in time to pick Brian up." Tyler grinned. This first time he had heard about the rainbow song, he had blinked, wondering why anyone would want to sing a song with that name. In the end, he had been proven wrong, but he still couldn't suppress a smile every time he heard that name.

"That's great. But before you go home…" Rachel lifted an eyebrow, waiting for Tyler to continue. "You should probably know that Reid's home." Rachel laughed, nearly jumping up and down in her seat.

"That's great!" Tyler looked at her with a hesitating look that made her frown. "Is it great?"

"Well… he's a bit drunk." Rachel groaned softly.

"Yeah, that was probably to be expected."

"And he brought a girl…" Rachel's head shot up.

"He did what?" Tyler didn't look so happy either.

"I know. I guess it really is over between him and Lizzie." Rachel immediately started shaking her head.

"Oh, no! They can't be over! They were perfect. I mean, who else would be able to keep them in line beside each other? This is HORRIBLE!" She cried out. Tyler reached out to grab her hand and tried to calm her.

"It'll be alright, Rachel. Who knows, they might just make it up. But it's gotta be on their own account. We can not meddle in this one, alright?" Rachel looked shocked that he would say such a thing.

"But…"

"No." Rachel pouted and lowered her shoulders.

"Fine. But I'm giving them one month. After that, I will interfere." Tyler grinned at his girlfriend, amused by her childlike behaviour.

"Alright. You got yourself a deal."

* * *

><p>It was soon proven that Tyler's idea about Reid and Lizzie fixing their own relationship was a bit far-fetched. It took another week for Lizzie to return, after Tyler had decided to call the girl with the message that Rachel was in the hospital. The girl was not pleased when she saw Rachel watching TV in her apartment. The fact that some girl, who looked an awful lot like a streetwalker, stuck her head out of Reid's apartment to see what all the yelling was about, while Lizzie was yelling at Tyler about his lie, didn't exactly help either. Then Reid, again completely wasted, joined the discussion by yelling at Lizzie that she was the one of started the whole drama. Lizzie, of course, transferred the blame to Rachel, by saying that the girl had promised to keep her mouth shut. Of course, neither Reid nor Tyler were all to happy with this accusation, both for very different reasons. Reid thought he had deserved to know and that Lizzie actually should have told him herself, while Tyler screamed that Rachel had only wanted to be a good friend and that Lizzie didn't have the right to pull her into this. In the end, it took a few neighbours to get them quiet, in which time Lizzie had started a bitch fight with Reid's new 'girlfriend'.<p>

And so, two weeks after Lizzie's disappearance, the group was once again complete, sitting at the kitchen table in Tyler and Rachel's apartment. None of them spoke. Rachel was fighting to keep the tears at bay while feeding Brian, Reid and Lizzie were glaring at each other, and Tyler, having regained his calm, was making sure none of them would start screaming again by keeping his eyes fixated on Reid and Lizzie's faces.

"I called Caleb." He finally said. The heads of both Reid and Lizzie snapped towards him, eyes filled with anger.

"What did you do that for?" Reid snarled. Tyler was unfazed.

"I did it to make sure I wouldn't kill anyone of you." He replied, his voice even. "Their on their way, so I suggest we wait for one more hour before we start fighting. Lizzie, if you want you can use our bathroom. You look like you could use a shower." She glared at him while getting up and walking to the bathroom. She slammed the door close behind her, causing Rachel to jump. Tyler shot her a worried look.

Even though there were times when she would refuse to believe it, he did know her. Better then anyone, with the possible exception of Lizzie and Reid. The importance of family to her was bigger then anything else in her life, for the simple reason that she hadn't had one for over sixteen years. When Pogue had finally stopped ignoring her and she had started to make friends, it had been like she stepped into a whole new world for her. And now things were starting to come very close to the metaphorical edge. The fact that Reid had yelled at her for lying about Lizzie's actions right before he disappeared and the disappearance of two people she considered to be family had hurt her, more then she wanted to let on. And then Lizzie came back and yelled at her for telling Reid, something she had doubted ever since it had happened, it was starting to destroy her.

"Rachel?" His voice was soft as he addressed his girlfriend. "If the others are staying for dinner, we're gonna need some extra food. Do you think you could get some?" Rachel looked up at him, blinking the tears away and she nodded.

"Sure." She whispered softly, getting up from the chair. "I'll take Brian." Both knew that Tyler was trying to get the two of them out of the apartment, to keep them out of the inevitable fight, but Rachel was too tired to object. For the past two weeks, the thought of Lizzie coming back and making it all better was the one that kept her going. Now that she was proven wrong, she didn't know what to do anymore. So she was kind of happy to get out of the apartment, to get something to do. She needed the distraction.

She pecked Tyler on the lips while walking past him and quickly exited the apartment. Tyler gave it ten minutes, to make sure she was far out of earshot and that she wouldn't come back because she had forgotten something, before he slammed his fist against Reid's nose.

"What the fuck?" Reid called out, both in pain and shock. "Where was that for?"

"One: For being so completely unable to solve your own trouble that you had to pull Rachel and me down with you. Two: For not even bothering to win Lizzie back and three: for making Rachel cry."

"Man, that was not my fault. She cried because Lizzie yelled at her."

"Yeah, and because you yelled at her two weeks ago before disappearing for a week. Alright, I know I should've hit you before, but is it so hard to just apologize?"

A scoff pulled his attention away from his bleeding brother. "Right, Reid and apologizing. That would be a miracle." Tyler narrowed his eyes at Lizzie.

"You are very lucky I don't hit girls, or I would break your nose as well. You disappear for two weeks and then actually have the nerves to blame Rachel? Are you freaking insane?"

Before Lizzie got the change to apologize the door was opened at Pogue and Caleb walked in, followed by their girlfriends. Caleb coughed to get the attention and make Tyler and Lizzie stop glaring at each other.

"I'm guessing we were too late to stop the fight?"

* * *

><p>Rachel let go of the buggy to open the doors to the hallway of her apartment building, but someone opened them for her before she could actually grab the doorknob.<p>

"Hey, Rachel." Lizzie shyly smiled at her, face filled with shame. "Do you think we could talk?"

The sat down in the hallway, on the bench beside the mailboxes. Rachel held Brian in her arms, nervously waiting for Lizzie to start.

"I'm sorry." The girl whispered. "I shouldn't have run away, I know that, I was just…. Scared, I think. And I shouldn't have yelled at you. You were right, Reid deserved to know. I shouldn't have cheated on him."

"So why did you?" Rachel didn't look at her friend, but kept her eyes on her baby, who was fast asleep. For a few seconds, Lizzie looked at her, hoping she would look her in the eyes, but finally she gave the answer.

"I don't know. It's just… after the kidnapping, everything's been so weird." Finally Rachel looked up.

"Weird? So you just decided to find a new boyfriend? Reid tried to help you!"

"But not on time!" Rachel's eyes widened when she heard Lizzie's exclamation. The older girl looked down at her shoes, eyes starting to fill with tears. "He was already too late."

"What do you mean? What happened?" In a matter of seconds, Rachel had switched from angry and disappointed to worried.

"Nothing happened." Lizzie wiped away her tears. "He didn't hurt me or anything… but do you know what it feels like, to have somebody controlling your body? It's like you don't even matter anymore. You're just a toy, not even a real person anymore." Rachel looked down again, brushing Brian's hair out of his face.

"I do know what that's like." She whispered. Lizzie sobbed.

"I know. And I'm so sorry. But after that, you needed to be alone as well, didn't you? I was just confused. I didn't know anything anymore. I couldn't even believe Reid loved me any longer." Rachel's eyes snapped back up, filled with tears.

"He does! He really does!"

"Really? Then why did it take him so long to realize I was possessed, that it wasn't me who was talking, moving. Why did he move on so fast? He didn't even try to look for me!"

"Is that what you wanted?" Rachel snapped, back to angry now. "That we would look for you? Well, congratulations, we did! Do you have any idea how worried I was about you? About both of you? Did you even think about that?" Brian started to stir in her arms and she immediately fell silent. A teardrop landed on Brian's face and she wiped it away.

"I know." Lizzie whispered. "And I'm so, so sorry. But I couldn't stop myself. I needed to get away from them." Rachel opened her mouth to answer, and then suddenly noticed the difference between that line and the previous ones.

"Them? What do you mean them? It's not just Reid?" Lizzie looked at her friend, not even trying to keep herself from crying now.

"They were the ones he wanted, but he took me. It was their fault. I know that you don't want to hear this, Rachel, but they are endangering us. You, me and Brian. They will come back, and they will hurt us because of them." And with those words, Lizzie walked back to the apartment, bringing the bags with the groceries with her.

Rachel cried soundlessly and pulled Brian to her chest. She couldn't bare the thoughts about endangering him, about loosing him, but she couldn't stop them either.

In the end, it was Pogue who came down to get her. When he saw her crying he simply pulled her to his chest, but no matter how hard he was thinking, he couldn't think of any thing comforting to say.

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><p><strong>And another chapter, slightly later then promised, but I hope you can forgive me for that...<strong>

**I want to thank katespc123 voor reviewing. Unfortunately, I couldn't send you a preview because I couldn't reply to your review. I hope this chapter is to your liking :)**

**Anyway, I have about three pages for chapter 8, so that means a preview is garanteed. And the christmass holidays start next week, so that means I'll have lots of time for writing *small cheer***

**If anyone's interested, I'll try to write a Christmas special for you guys. Can you give me five reviews as a reward? **

**And now I should probably start learning for my English test I have in about three hours...**


	9. Chapter 8

**Tumbling down**

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><p>When Rachel entered her boyfriend's apartment, Brian safely locked up in her arms, she immediately knew something was off. Tyler was sitting in the kitchen, eating his waffles while a girl was trying to get his attention by telling some weird story, which included a lot of hand gestures. When she saw Rachel entering, she immediately switched all her attention away from Tyler.<p>

"Oh, hi! I'm Katie, Reid's new girlfriend! Who are you?" Rachel's eyes widened before they turned to Tyler, silently begging him for an explanation. He looked a bit tired.

"That's my girlfriend, Rachel and our son Brian." He muttered, before getting up from the table and wrapping an arm around the girl he just introduced. "Sorry, Katie, I promised Rachel I'd take her into town today. You can show yourself out, right?" Katie, who had looked a bit funny when Tyler had said the word 'son', gave the couple a mega-smile.

"Sure! But I think I'll just wait for Reid to get up. Or, better yet, I think I'm going to bring him some breakfast on bed. He'll like that." She almost skipped towards the refrigerator while Tyler and Rachel shared a knowing look. Waking up Reid before twelve on a Saturday was not a good idea.

"I think he'll love that." Rachel said with a sweet smile, before turning to Tyler and whispering in his ear. "Let's go, before he actually wakes up." Tyler grinned softly and followed his girlfriend out of the door.

"Nice meeting you!" They heard Katie behind them. Neither one of them turned around.

"Seriously?" Rachel hissed as soon as they were out of earshot. "Would it kill him to at least wait a few weeks before finding a rebound?" Although Rachel had never been able to fully blame either Reid or Lizzie for the trouble their fight had caused within the Covenant, she would have liked the idea of them at least trying to make it better. Instead, they seemed to be engaged in some sort of fight of who could find the most hook-ups, and when they were together they made a sport out of turning every line into an insult. It was tiresome for Tyler and Rachel, since they were usually the ones who had to break the two up, which immediately leaded to the accusation that they were picking sides.

"Don't worry." Tyler consoled his girlfriend. "She won't last long. Actually, I think that he will probably throw her out of the window when she tries to wake him up." Rachel grinned for a second, before realizing this was actually a realistic possibility.

"Maybe we should have warned her." She mumbled. "After all, we can hardly blame her for this, right?" Tyler didn't answer, thinking about the conversation with the girl, in which she had tried on multiple occasions to get some information about Lizzie, of who Reid had apparently told her.

"Right." He muttered, knowing Rachel liked seeing the innocent part of people. "But she'll survive. As long as he likes the food she brings him." Rachel laughed and rolled her eyes.

"We really got to find ourselves some normal friends." Tyler laughed, not even bothering to deny that statement. Sometimes he felt like they were caught up in some sort of soap opera.

"Let's just forget about that for today, alright? I just need one quiet day for ourselves.

Surprisingly enough, they actually managed to reach that. Reid and Lizzie stayed far away, although no one except for themselves knew exactly where they were, and for ones nothing crazy happened. By the time Rachel's rehearsal for the musical started, she was actually feeling a bit relaxes, something that hadn't happened in a very long time.

"Rachel!" Rachel grinned when she saw Michael waving to her, and she quickly moved towards him.

"Hey Michael. How did it go?" Michael was one of the dancers, which meant he had to practice before the actors like Rachel.

"Great. How's Liz doing? I haven't seen her in a while. I heard she quit school?" Rachel frowned and then nodded.

"Yeah. She's having a bit of a hard time. She and Reid had a messy break-up." Michael stared at her in surprise.

"They broke up? I thought they were engaged." Rachel shrugged, not really in the mood to talk about it. Luckily for her, someone called Michael over so the boy had to run. She took the time to look around, taking in the people she was currently working with. The school had a kind of special way of working, which meant that people where judged on talent for the first two years. That's how Rachel and Lizzie, who was actually a class above her, ended up in the same year during their dance classes. The musical was produced by everyone who could have something to do with it and was in year one or two. That meant that the art-students made the décor, the dance students danced, the actors and singers played the roles and the directing was done by the film-students. It was both fun and a huge part of their grade. Rachel, who had experience with musicals since she had played in a few in high school and who could also dance and sing, had managed to score the female-lead.

"RACHEL! Get your ass on that stage!" The director, Sam, yelled at her. Rachel quickly rushed to her spot. "The rainbow song!" Sam commanded, and immediately everyone obeyed. The music started playing, the lights moved towards Rachel, or Mary, as her character was called, and she took a deep breath.

The musical was about dreams and nightmares, about what happens when you're so focused on how it supposed to be, you completely forget about reality. It had sort of been inspired by Britney Spears 'Lucky'. The rainbow song was basically the center of the musical.

_It were my dreams that led me here,_

_that brought me were I am today. _

_It were my dreams that changed my fear_

_into strength to ignore what they say._

_When they tell me I am falling,_

_That I soon will hit the ground,_

_Then I say this is my calling,_

_That I can't ignore this sound._

_Yes, I am a star, and soon you too will see,_

_Yes, I am everything that I could ever dream to be. _

_I am standing on top of the rainbow,_

_And when I look below:_

_I only see the things I want _

_And that makes my life so bright,_

_Since I earned it I can flaunt,_

_So I will step into my own light. _

_This world will soon be mine,_

_I can see the love in your eyes._

_I am feeling o so fine,_

_But I wish you could see through my lies._

_Yes, I am a star, and soon you too will see,_

_Yes, I am everything that I could ever dream to be. _

_I am standing on top of the rainbow,_

_but when I look below:_

_Those people seem so full of joy_

_As simple as their lives may be_

_`cause in all my strength I am a toy_

_Of what they want to see. _

_No, my life is not a rainbow, _

_That shines bright in the sun,_

_But still I always play the show,_

_Since it's too late now to run. _

_Yes, I am a star, and soon you too will see,_

_Yes, I am everything that I could ever dream to be. _

_I am standing on top of the rainbow,_

_But from here I can only go below_

Rachel smiled to herself as the music died out, but didn't have any time to celebrate. Since their planning for the play wasn't very realistic, they had a small problem with the time. To avoid total defeat, they had agreed to continue as soon as something went right.

"Mary! What are you doing? The show starts in two minutes, and we still have to do all your make-up!" Rachel turned around, wiping the tears out of her eyes and smiling like a kid who was caught with his hand in the cookie-jar.

"Sorry. I was just…" She hesitated, unable to come up with a lie. The guy who had just entered the stage was Mary's agent Tom. He rolled his eyes and roughly grabbed her arm.

"Stop talking, start getting ready. What the hell are you wearing? You can't wear that during a concert! Do you have any idea how big of a deal this is? If you screw this up, you're gonna end up in the streets, you hear me?"

Mary nodded quickly, moving of the stage. Tom rolled his eyes, turned to the public and was about to say something when… his phone rang.

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><p>"CUT!" Sam yelled angrily. "Andy, how many times do I have to tell you guys: TURN OFF your cellphone when we're working!"<p>

Andy paled as he grabbed his cellphone and then frowned. "I'm sorry, but I have to take this." He said, before jumping off the stage and running to a quiet corner. Sam glared at him, but he didn't seem to notice.

"What's his deal?" Emily, the girl in charge of the special effects, asked anyone who was close enough to hear her question. Rachel pricked up her ears when she heard Thomas, Andy's best friend, answer.

"His mom is in the hospital. It's probably his sister to give him an update."

"So that's why he was acting so nervous all day." Brianna, another co-actor of Rachel, muttered.

"Stop the gossip!" Sam called. "Brianna, Thomas, Levi, you're up! Act two, scene four!" The three hurried to the stage, knowing it wasn't wise to keep Sam waiting when he was like this. Rachel couldn't remember when Sam hadn't been like that, though. She jumped off the stage, wanting to see the scene like the public would for once. When she landed on the ground, she saw Reid and Tyler standing in the door opening and she hurried to them.

"Hey!" she greeted them happily. "What are you doing here?" Tyler smiled and pecked her on the lips.

"Sam mentioned a problem with the set of Mary's apartment, so I thought I'd come by to talk to him about what he does want." Tyler was one of the artists who had made the backgrounds. "Plus, I thought it would be nice to see my girlfriend again."

"So adorable." Reid grumbled, causing Rachel to turn to him.

"And what are you doing here? Did you want to complain about your early wake-up call this morning?" Reid narrowed his eyes.

"You knew about that? And you didn't try to stop it?"

"TYLER! RACHEL!" Rachel spun around to see Sam running towards them. "Rachel, Dana wants you to try on your costume. Tyler, great you could come. Let me show you what I meant. I think some idiot spilled some chocolate milk on it or something."

"Who is stupid enough to do that?" Reid asked, once again shocked by other people's foolishness. Rachel rolled her eyes at him.

"You didn't happen to stand close to the set in the past few days, did you Reid?" Reid glared at her for implying it was his fault. Tyler grinned.

"Don't you have a dressing room to run to, Rachel?" Sam cut in. Rachel grinned and ran away.

"What is she mad at me for this time?" Reid asked confused. Tyler simply patted his friend on the shoulder before following Sam.

* * *

><p>"Rachel!" Lizzie called her friend in a sing-song voice. Rachel lifted her eyebrow as she followed the sound to the kitchen. She had just picked up Brian from the day-care centre and now the boy was fast asleep in her arms.<p>

"Hey, Liz. What's going on?" Lizzie grinned up at her friend and then moved the pizza box across the table.

"I thought you could use a relax-night, so I ordered pizza, bought a few good movies and brought out our girls-night kit." She sent Rachel a cheesy grin and the other girl couldn't help but laugh and drop down next to her.

The girls-night kit consisted of a manicure-set, a few facial masks and a lot a different colors nail polish. All in all, it was pretty much all any girl could need for a nice, relaxing evening.

Two hours, one movie later, the two girls were finally over their 'idiotic' part of the night, which consisted of a lot of laughter, silly jokes and lame movies, and had moved on to the 'serious' part.

"You heard about Katie?" Rachel asked Lizzie carefully, after the other girl had given a long rant about men and how quickly they move on. Lizzie nodded, looking down at the ground.

"Yeah. I met her. But, hey, I didn't slap her or anything, so that's a plus, right?" Rachel nodded, a sad smile on her face. Lizzie missed her ex, that much was clear. "But the weird thing is that, even though I know he is a jerk, I still wished I would be the one underneath his arm." Rachel hesitated, not quit ready to ruin the night, but not fully capable of letting her friend bash her other friend.

"It was a bad idea to push two of your friends to start dating." Rachel grumbled. "You never know what you will get messed up in when they start fighting."

"Hey!" Lizzie complained playfully. "You didn't push anything. We did it all by ourselves." Rachel laughed, shaking her head.

"Right… Like you two would have ever start talking to each other if it hadn't been for me."

"Coincidence. There's no way you planned that out."

"Hey, I'm just smart like that." Rachel grinned.

"Don't laugh like that. It makes you look like Reid." Lizzie's grin disappeared as fast as it had appeared. Talking about Reid was one thing, mentioning his name without adding an insult was very different. Rachel took her hand, rubbing it soothingly.

"He misses you too, you know." She whispered. Immediately, Lizzie pulled her hand free and jumped up.

"Can I have the last slice?" She asked, already extending her hand to the pizza. Rachel sighed softly, then nodded.

"Sure. Although, now you quit dancing you might want to watch the calories."

"Shut up!" Lizzie was laughing again. "So which movie do you want next? 27 dresses or the Princess bride?"

"Princess bride." Rachel replied immediately, deciding she never really did like the serious part of their evening. Lizzie settled down next to Rachel and both found a comfortable position to watch the movie.

"I don't understand why she's crying about him." Lizzie grumbled, right after princess Buttercup heard that Westley, the love of her life, was killed by a pirate. Rachel rolled her eyes, starting to realize that love stories might not be the best choice for the moment.

"She loved him, Liz. Of course she would cry about him."

"But he left her!"

"To make enough money so that he could marry her, Liz. That sounds like a pretty good excuse to me!" Rachel realized that she was getting worked up while defending a movie character, but she liked Westley. He was…sweet. He reminded her of Tyler.

"That's no excuse! She had all the money they could possibly need. I mean, she's a bloody princess! But no, being the man he is, he just _had_ to make his own fortune. Bloody idiot." Rachel realized she wasn't the only one who was starting to take it a bit personal. She didn't know why, maybe because Lizzie had tried to bash one of her favourite movies of all times, or maybe because she had held her anger back a bit too long, but suddenly she was starting to feel really, really pissed off.

"Reid wasn't the one who left, Lizzie." She snarled. "You cheated on him. And what's worse, you didn't even have the nerve to apologize. You just ran off, leaving me to deal with the mess. And even when you came back, you still tried to make everyone believe Reid was the bad guy. Well, guess what: You ran off. You ruined everything you two had. So don't you dare blame this on him."

If Rachel had thought she would stun Lizzie into apologizing, she was wrong. Lizzie hit back just as hard.

"You think that I don't know I might a mistake? You think I wanted to leave it all to you? Well guess what, Rachel, I didn't! I didn't want to leave, I didn't want to break up with Reid, but when he goes around sleeping with every single whore he meets…"

"YOU were the one who cheated, Lizzie! You two were over before he kissed another girl!"

"Oh, sure you believe that. Innocent, naive little Rachel couldn't possibly know about what her friends are doing behind her back, could she now? Well, I hate to bring it to ya, princess, but you are about as blind as a mole! Reid started cheating on me long before I ever even thought about leaving him!"

"That's not true! Reid would never do that to you!"

"Sure he wouldn't. It's not like he hasn't done it before, right? `Cause he was so pure when we met, our innocent little angel, wasn't he?"

"He is my friend, Lizzie." Rachel hissed, emphasizing every single word. "He is my BROTHER!"

"Yeah? Well, sorry, my bad. I forgot the rule about never telling you the truth because you're to damn scared to handle it! This world doesn't revolve around you, and it certainly won't change for you! So suck it up, life isn't easy. It never will be. And the ones you love the most will stab you in the back as soon as they get the chance!" Lizzie jumped up from the couch, running to the door. Just before she slammed it close behind her, she turned back to Rachel, tears evident in her eyes.

"I was your friend first, Rachel. Or did you forget that?" Her voice was weak, like she was betrayed or something. As soon as the door fell close behind her, Rachel buried her head in a pillow and cried.

A wail rose up from Brian's room, but for once, Rachel was just too tired to get up.

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><p><strong>Sorry for the Lizzie-Reid fans out there,<strong> **it just**** needed to happen. I suppose I should apologize about the delay (one week later then planned) again, but this time I'm blaming it on YOU *pointing finger at random person in audience* Honestly, how hard is to review? Just press the little button underneath the page! **

**Alright, so after that little rant- I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas and will have an even better New Year. My change at the latter is hanging around the zero, since my ****grades aren't as good as hoped. Is there anyone out there who can explain to me why Ovidius has to be so complicated? And why didn't I learn for my English test? Why? WHYYYYYY!**

**As you might have guessed, I'm having some issues, but they will be dealt with... JUST PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Oh, right, I was a bit mean after chapter 6... I promised to expose one of my ideas to the reviewers, but I only had one review I could respond to, and that wasn't enough for the idea. Anyway, I thought it'd be fun to share a story... Everyone writes a chapter, we pick which one is the best, then we work on chapter two, etc. The funny thing is that you never know how your story is going to end, plus you might actually learn a thing or two about writing (Is learning a plus?). But I'm going to need some assistance for this, so if anyone is interested, please PM me! And if you could, please send the message to other writers. They don't have to be a fanfiction member. Please? I'd really like to do this one time one fanfiction. I do it all the times with my brother, and we always end up with the most amazing endings. The guy you thought would be the prince who saved the damsel ends up being the dragon... one time he even ended up _being_ the damsel. **

I actually had an idea for the story, even though it is pretty lame... I think it can be something nice with enough fantasy added.

_At fifteen Reid slept with a girl, a good friend of all four of the sons, who moved away after he broke things off with her. In their senior year, she returns, refusing to talk about __why she left and avoiding the sons and their girlfriends. She hardly talks to anyone, doesn't go to parties and refuses to live at the dorms. Reid can't even find out where she lives. What's going on?_

**So, anyway, a review would be nice, a volunteer for this story even better... Other ideas are, of course, welcome. Critic on this one too, I've laughed about the lameness of it myself a couple of times. **

**Also I was considering writing a parody of the covenant and the many fics out there who all basically have the same idea (mysterious girl shows up, she has a secret; one of the boys has a sister who's having some trouble of her own, blah-blah) Please, before you get offended: Read my other fics and understand they are pretty much the same, so I'm bashing myself just as much as everyone else :) If you would like to help with this one, it would be appreciated.**

**The next chapter should be up in about a week. Or two. Or three... **

**Sorry, I think I had too much sugar (if there is such a thing)... or maybe I've just lost my mind?**

**Mwah, sanity is overrated.** _  
><em>


	10. Chapter 9

**Clash**

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><p>"Damn, girl. You look like you haven't slept for weeks!" Rachel couldn't help but smile as soon as she saw Simon, even if it was only with a webcam. After all, she did consider him to be her first friend ever, and even if he didn't know everything about the Covenant, Rachel still found herself able to talk to him about everything. As long as she filtered out the magic stuff, that is.<p>

"Hey Simon. How are things in Boston?" Simon grinned happily.

"Good. Very good, actually. So how bad is it in New York." Rachel didn't have to ask how he knew about the problems she had. Whether he had heard it from Tyler or just guessed because she was looking so tired, it didn't really matter. As long as he would have some advice.

"On a scale from one to ten? I'd say around the hundred." The line might be corny, it still got the message across. Simon simply lifted an eyebrow to motion Rachel to continue talking. She did. "So Liz and Reid broke up, because I found Liz kissing some other guy in a club. Then Lizzy ran off, leaving me to tell Reid, who of course wanted to know why I got home without her. Then Reid ran off. He came back one week later, looking like he hadn't had a shower in years and with a completely drunk girl under his arm. Then Liz comes back, yelling at me because I shouldn't have told Reid, then yelling at Reid for sleeping with other girls, then yelling at Tyler because he yelled at her…" Rachel had stop to take a breath, and Simon used her temporal silence to speak.

"Right, so there was a lot of yelling, what happened then?" Rachel took one more breath and started talking again, slightly slower then before.

"So of course Reid and Lizzie broke up, and since both are to stupid to make the first step they are still fighting, although it is about as clear as the sky in California that they are still madly in love and that they miss each other. Tyler said I hade to give them a month to make things up by their selves before we can meddle, but it's just too long!" Simon chuckled softly. "So then I started talking to Lizzie, not on purpose, by the way, so it doesn't count as meddling, and she starts saying that Reid cheated on her before she ever cheated on him. When I defend him, she starts yelling at me, screaming that Reid has always been a player, only phrasing it more… sarcastically. And when I defend him again, she screams that I am too innocent and naïve or something and that she can never tell me the truth, because I wouldn't be able to handle it and that this world is not fair and that is doesn't revolve around me and that she was my friend first and then she ran off and I haven't talked to her and…"

"Wow, Rachel! Calm down, alright? Just breath for a second. You sound like there's freaking war going on there." Rachel realized she had been rambling and that she really did need that breath, so she complied. Simon continued. "So basically, Lizzie is acting like a selfish bitch?" Rachel really hated talking about her friend that way, but she couldn't find the words to object, so she simply nodded, feeling a bit ashamed of herself.

"She claims it's the boys' fault." She whispered softly. Simon frowned.

"Why would it be their fault that she cheated on her boyfriend?"

Rachel hesitated, searching for a way to tell Simon the story about Lizzie's kidnapping without the magic part.

"Well…" She started slowly. "You remember how Reid got shot, right?" Simon's eyes widened and Rachel realized she never told that tale. "Oh, right, I forgot to tell you that."

"How the hell could you forget to tell me someone got shot? How bad are things in New York? Wait! Did Lizzie shoot Reid?"

"NO!" Rachel exclaimed, looking absolutely shocked. "Where would you get that idea? Of course not! It was before their break-up. In fact, I forgot to tell you because it was just before he asked him to marry her. He got shot while walking out of the store where he had bought her ring. Anyway, after Reid got shot some guys went after Lizzie. They didn't hurt her or anything, just scared her. Reid got her out, but well… it sort of freaked her out."

"And she thinks those are the same guys who shot Reid?" Rachel nodded.

"Yeah, I mean, she had never met those guys before. Plus, it really would be a coincidence if things like this happen without any connection." Simon nodded thoughtfully.

"But why does she think they are after Reid? I mean, they could be after her just as well, right? She does have a way of pissing people off." Rachel couldn't deny that.

"Something I said, I guess. But not just after Reid, after all of them." Simon looked a bit confused, so Rachel added. "After Caleb, Pogue and Tyler as well. We think they are some people they pissed off back in Ipswich." Simon looked worried.

"And their so mad they would follow Reid and Tyler to New York and shoot at them? Damn, what did they do to them to make them so mad?" Rachel shrugged helplessly.

"I don't know. They don't even know, or their just not telling me." Simon frowned, shaking his head.

"No way, girl. I've seen the way Tyler looks at you. If there was any way those guys would come after you, he'd tell you everything you needed to know to keep you safe. And the truth about what happened would be the first thing you'd need to know in a situation like this." Rachel nodded unconvinibly. "What's wrong girl? What's going on in that head of yours?"

"Just… well, something that Liz said. She said that by just being with Tyler I'm bringing myself in danger." Simon's look softened.

"And you think it ain't worth it?" Rachel immediately shook her head, not a hint of doubt this time.

"Of course it is. But Brian… what if they would come after him?" Simon immediately shook his head.

"Those gotta be some sick motherfuckers if they would kidnap a toddler." Rachel bowed her head.

"From what I've seen so far, they are pretty messed up." She whispered, making Simon wish he could put a hand on her shoulder. Even though he could only see her on a very crappy laptop, he still knew she was crying and desperately trying to keep the tears at bay.

"Honestly, Rachel, I don't think you'll have to worry." He told her softly. "No matter how screwed up these people are, there is no way Tyler's going to let you down. And you know that, if I didn't believe that with all my heart, I never would've allowed him to even touch you, right?" A small smile appeared on Rachel's face and Simon grinned. "There's the Rachel I know!" He laughed. Rachel laughed along, slightly shaking her head and realizing she always would be the baby for her friends, even if she was the only one who actually had a baby.

"I miss you, Simon." She admitted softly. Simon nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I know. I'm really missing my dance partner. Speaking of dancing, how is your _education_ going?" He pronounced education like it was some sort of curse. Like most of Rachel's 'Boston' friends, he didn't believe dancing was something that could be taught. "I heard you were doing some sort of Leprechaun play." Rachel laughed, a little louder this time.

"Leprechaun play? Who told you that?" Simon gave her a playful smirk.

"Tyler. He said something about a rainbow dance. Everybody knows leprechauns dance on rainbows, right?" Rachel laughed and shook her head.

"Pretty sure those were unicorns. But yes, there is a song called 'the rainbow song', even though it has nothing to do with unicorns and buckets filled with gold." Simon looked confused.

"What do the buckets have to do with it?"

"Aren't they usually underneath a rainbow?"

"Really? Hm, I'd have to go look for one of those sometime." They both laughed again.

"RACHEL!" Mischa suddenly appeared in Rachel's screen, nearly pushing Simon out of his chair. "Girl, I haven't seen you in AGES! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!" Like usual, Mischa was a bit overexcited. As Lizzie always said, she was the bouncing type.

"Hey Mischa. How are you?"

"I'm great. Absolutely fabulous. Oh no, I quoted High School Musical! Oh well, who cares, listen, there is this great party at Danny's tonight. You remember Danny, right? Of COURSE you do! Everybody remembers Danny. Well, at least all the girls. And maybe homosexuals. Oh, do you think Danny is homosexual? It would explain a lot, don't you think? Anyway, you're coming right? Because it's going to be ABSOLUTELY FAB…. NO, not fabulous again! No, I mean it's going to be absolutely AMAZING! You have to come. Oh, come over now, then we can go shopping. I do LOVE shopping! I've seen this dress, and it was so amazing, you would love it! I bet Tyler will have a heart attack if he saw you wearing that… not that I want Tyler to have a heart attack, of course… Oh, will you bring him with you tonight? Because…" Rachel couldn't hear the rest of what she had to say, because Simon had finally decided it was enough and put a hand over her mouth. Rachel was staring at the screen of her computer in aw, wondering how anyone could say so much in such a short time. Didn't the girl have to breath once in a while, or something?

"Uhm… Misch, you do know I'm in New York, right?" Simon slowly removed his hand from her mouth, keeping it close in case she'd start babbling again. Mischa nodded enthusiastically.

"Of COURSE I remember. We visited you, remember? About what, two months ago? OH! Two months! That's way too long! We'd…" Simon placed his hand back against her mouth, and Rachel found herself wondering if Mischa even noticed the thing or that she was just talking on, not even realizing there was no sound anymore.

"I can't exactly come over from New York for a day, Mischa. I'm sorry. Say hi to Danny for me, alright?" Mischa nodded again, so fast that Simon's hand couldn't keep up. Mischa disappeared from Rachel's view and Simon's head filled the screen again.

"Sorry about that. I guess we forgot the leash this morning." Rachel laughed, still trying to pick herself up after Mischa's rambling.

"It's quite alright. I just forgot how much energy you need to talk with her. How much sugar has she had?" Simon looked regretful.

"I gave her one of my candy bars this morning." He muttered.

* * *

><p>After talking to Simon some more, she said goodbye to him and got ready for bed. Lizzie still wasn't in, which wasn't that much of a surprise, but Rachel still wished she would've called. She knew Lizzie hadn't exactly been the 'sweet virgin' type before they met, but this behaviour still sort of shocked her. Lizzie had been her friend for years, and she just didn't like the idea of not knowing where the other girl was. Especially now that there were some evil idiots coming after the boys, New York wasn't the safest place for a girl along.<p>

Of course, the chances that Lizzie was alone were slim to none.

Rachel laid awake for a few hours, a thousand thoughts running through her mind. For the first time in years, she found herself thinking about her parents again, trying to remember times of her life where they hadn't hated her. She couldn't think of one and she felt the tears appearing in her eyes again.

She hated herself for crying all the time, hated feeling like a lost little princess who was waiting for a knight to save her. She had told herself a thousand times before that she wasn't like that, that she was stronger then she looked, but this time she couldn't convince herself.

Just when she was thinking about going to see Tyler, Brian started crying. She didn't waste any time getting out of bed, sort of glad she had something to do.

Apparently, the little boy had had a nightmare. Rachel gave him some warm milk and told him a story about a prince who rode through the land on his white horse and killed dragons. With every dragon he killed he got a small coin and when he had collected nine coins he would get his princess back.

"You see," She told Brian. "You don't have to be afraid of monsters. They can't hurt you. You are a prince and you are way stronger then them. You can defeat the monsters. So there's really no reason to be scared." The boy, already half asleep, nodded softly and Rachel put him back to bed. Giving him a soft kiss on his forehead, she whispered in his ear, "Good night, my prince." And then she left his room, returning to her own bed.

Again, she lay awake, staring at the ceiling. After a few hours, Brian started crying again, but this time Rachel knew it was not because of a nightmare.

It was because of his aunt Lizzie, screaming at someone in the hallway. She quickly ran to Brian's room, taking her son in her arms and whispering soothing words in his ear while moving towards the door.

"Could you keep it down?" She snapped at Lizzie, completely ignoring the boy who was standing just a few feet further.

"Keep out of it, Bitch!" The guy snapped at her. Normally, this was about the time when Rachel would run. But normally, it would also be the time where Lizzie would stand up for her.

She didn't. Instead, she just kept staring at Rachel, her eyes almost free from any emotion. Rachel could see a small spark, but she couldn't really name it. One thing, however, she could recognize. Lizzie was very, very drunk. And Rachel snapped.

She turned to the boy, her eyes practically shooting fire. "Do you live here?" She asked. Her voice was soft and calm but there was an obvious anger hidden in it. The guy shook his head, still not showing any signs of fear. "Then get the hell out of this apartment." Rachel said simply and then turned to Lizzie. "And you can find a hotel or something. There's no way I'm letting you in when you're that drunk." She stepped back and closed the door, completely ignoring all Lizzie's complains from the other side of the door.

Lizzie was the one who had screwed up every friendship within Rachel's group of friends.

Lizzie was the one who ran away for to weeks, without even caring about Rachel's worrying.

Lizzie was the one who had accused Reid of cheating, after she had cheated on him.

Lizzie was the one who had practically told her she was a spoiled little princess for who everyone had to be careful not to upset her.

And now, Lizzie had woken up her son.

Yes. It was definitely war.

* * *

><p>To be honest, Lizzie didn't knock or scream or anything. She just left, probably to find a room somewhere. Rachel almost started to feel a little guilty, but she pushed it away. Until now, she had done everything in her power not to upset Lizzie, and she was getting very, very sick of it. In her eyes, this was revenge for all the times Lizzie had hurt her. And she considered it to be justified.<p>

The next day, she completed all of her tasks with a grim face. Only when Brian was there she allowed herself to smile, to make sure he wouldn't be burdened by her trouble. She dropped him of at the day-care centre, and went to school. There was no musical rehearsal that day, just a lot of dance classes, something Rachel was very happy with. She allowed herself to sink away in the music and forget about everything but the dance.

The only problem with music is that sometimes, it stops. Rachel sighed softly as she left her last class, ready to go home, take a shower and loose herself in a movie or her music or something.

Unfortunately, faith wasn't on her side.

"Rachel!" The girl groaned when she saw Lizzie heading her way. The girl was wearing sunglasses. It wasn't very hard to guess what those were for, so Rachel didn't bother asking.

"What?" Rachel snapped, still pissed from the night before. Lizzie bowed her head in shame.

"I'm sorry." The girl whispered. "I really have been acting like a bitch the past days…"

"Weeks." Rachel snapped.

"The past weeks." Lizzie obediently continued. "I'm really sorry about that, and about waking up Brian last night and about bringing that asshole anywhere near you." She seemed to think about her words for a second, trying to remember if there was any bad behaviour she had missed. "And, of course, about running away and worrying you." Rachel looked at her through narrowed eyes, trying to make sure the girl was being honest. Then, slowly, she nodded.

"Alright. You're forgiven." Lizzie immediately enlivened.

"Yay! So I can sleep in my own bed tonight?" Rachel lifted her eyebrow. "Not that that's important or anything." Lizzie quickly added. Rachel laughed and walked past the girl. Lizzie followed. "How about some shopping?" She suggested, clearly relieved to have her friend back. "I've seen the most amazing dress yesterday. I bet it'll give Tyler a heart attack!" Rachel froze for a second, turning to Lizzie.

"When have you last talked to Mischa?" She asked suspiciously. Lizzie looked confused by the sudden turn of the conversation.

"About… two weeks ago, I guess. Why?" Rachel continued staring at her for a while, then shook her head as if she was trying to loose the thought, and shrugged.

"Never mind. Just a small déjà-vu, I guess." Lizzie shrugged as well, and continued.

"Anyway, it's purple, not the bright kind, but the dark kind that's really pretty, you know?" Rachel nodded, smiling brightly. She really had missed her friend.

But of course, she should have known by now that good things never last very long.

The two girls got into a cab and Lizzie quickly gave the directions to the nearest mall. The guy nodded, and suddenly took off. Rachel didn't have to look at his speedometer to know he was going way to fast. She screamed at him to stop, but Lizzie stayed silent, probably frozen in shock, Rachel assumed. The cabbie didn't slow down and Rachel screamed as she realized they were nearing an intersection with a red light. He kept driving. She closed her eyes, not wanting to know what was going to happen, but her mind was already painting the picture for her.

And then they crashed.

* * *

><p><strong>Review, OR I WILL KILL HER! <strong>

haha, let's see how you react to threats! Please check out the author's note on the end of the last chapter, I'd really appreciate some reactions to that.

I would like to thank **katespc123** for reviewing my last chapter. I'm glad you like this story so much, and I hope this chapter did not disappoint. I'm not entirely sure if I promised a preview, but unfortunately I had to complete a presentation about Ben-Gurion and I had to study for Ancient Greek (they have way too much verbs). Because of that, I did not have a lot of time to write, so I just finished this chapter today (about three minutes ago). I will sent you a preview for the next chapter if I manage to finish it in time. **The same goes to every other reviewer, BTW.** Also, I'm glad you liked the idea for the other story. If you would like to help me write it, I would love working with you. I don't know if you have any writing experience, but it doesn't really matter. I've never met anyone without fantasy (well, beside a math-teacher I used to have...)

**Anyway, I hope everybody likes this chapter...**


	11. Chapter 10

**revelations**

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><p>Pogue looked down on the immobile form of his little sister. She had been unconscious for over two weeks, leaving all of her friends worried sick about her. Lizzie had managed to get out of the car wreck with little more than a headache. Rachel had nearly died. There were times Pogue wished it would've been the other way around, and he knew he wasn't the only one, although only Reid dared to admit it.<p>

He had yelled at Lizzie, blaming her for the accident, and for once Lizzie hadn't defended herself. The girl had looked lost, crying and sobbing softly, until Sarah had finally taken pity of the girl. She had guided her to a corner of the hospital, where they spent the next hour, just talking. When they got back, Lizzie looked slightly better, although she clearly was still worrying.

The police didn't understand what had happened. The guy had been a cabbie for over ten years, and suddenly he decided to kill himself, trying to take two young, innocent girls, who he had never met before, with him? It was crazy, but Pogue hadn't thought twice about who was behind it.

_The fathers will raise their hands and the sons will flow over this land and kill everyone who gets in their way._

Caleb had called them the brotherhood. After all, the guy who had taken control of Lizzie had called his leaders his ' fathers' , and the servants were there son. It was a family, however twisted they may be. Pogue had to admit, brotherhood sounded rather sinister, even though it reminded him an awful lot of the X-men. He just wished he could understand why they had decided to go after Rachel. What did they think that would reach? Vengeance? Of course, Pogue was ready to go after them, but they didn't have the smallest clue of where to begin looking. So far, there had been two people who had attacked them. Both had died.

_Only there hadn't been just two. _

As soon as the thought formed in Pogue's head, the boy was standing, running towards his friends in the hallway, focusing on one friend in particularly.

" Reid!" The boy looked up. His eyes filled up with hope as he heard the excitement in the elder boy's voice. "When you were shot… did you see who did it?" Reid frowned and his hope faded away.

" No." he answered, shaking his head. " He ran before I even realized what had happened." Pogue turned to Tyler, but didn't have to repeat the question.

" I just saw someone wearing a hoodie. I'm not even sure it was a man or woman." Tyler replied tiredly. Ever since his girlfriend had been admitted, he had hardly left the hospital.

" What are you thinking?" Caleb asked, noticing the gleam in Pogue's eyes. The boy had an idea.

" There has to be a link between the shooting and Rachel's accident and Lizzie's… possession. It's just too much of a coincidence."

" And exactly how does this help?" Reid asked annoyed. " We don't even know who shot me, so that isn't much of a clue."

" We don't." Caleb muttered. " But I'm sure the police will have some ideas."

" Oh, sure!" Reid replied sarcastically. " Let's ask them! That'll help, I'm sure they'd be thrilled to help us catch a group of insane witches!" Pogue was coming very close to hit him, which Caleb immediately picked up on.

He took charge, like he always did. " We don't necessarily have to ask." He muttered. Reid turned to him, eyes raised. No one had expected Caleb to suggest such a thing… at least, as long as Reid was right about what the other guy was suggesting. " Pogue, you come with me. Reid, Tyler, stay with the girls. We never know what the Brotherhood will do next, so we'd better keep an eye on them." Pogue hesitated. Although the idea of a chance for revenge was very luring, he really didn't like leaving the hospital. Caleb, immediately picking up on his thoughts, changed the plans. " On second thought, Reid, you come with me. I don't think it'll be a good idea to leave both you and Lizzie here."

" So take Lizzie." Reid grumbled. " I'm not leaving Rachel for some stupid idea that's never gonna work out anyway."

" I'll call you as soon as something changes." Tyler promised in a whisper. Reid turned to his friend, eyes filled with fire. But as soon as he took in the way his friend looked, his shoulders fell. Tyler's clothes were wrinkled, he clearly hadn't shaved in a few days and most people would probably push him towards the shower as soon as he came too close… In short: he looked like a homeless guy. But the worst were his eyes; he looked lost, tired and scared. So Reid nodded.

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><p>Reid and Caleb left without looking back and Pogue quickly returned to his sister's room, leaving Tyler behind with the three girls and Brian, who was currently asleep in Sarah's arms.<p>

He looked down at his sister's body, starting to wonder if she ever would wake up again. He had refused to admit the possibility that she wouldn't wake up again until that very moment, but now he felt so powerless, so lost of hope, that he couldn't lie to himself anymore. For the third time he had been unable to defend his little sister and for the third time he had to wonder if she would ever see another day. And for the third time he had been the target.

Aaron had hated him and his friends, and it was only for that reason that he had picked Rachel as his victim. Chase would've never even met Rachel if he hadn't been after Pogue. And now the brotherhood attacked her, apparently just so he wouldn't forget they were still after him.

He still remember the day Rachel had told him she had been accepted to a school in New York, practically on the other end of the country. Pogue had been torn between going to Stanford, with his girlfriend, and choosing a college closer to his sister. At the moment, he wished he had chosen the latter, but at that time Tyler and Reid had managed to convince him that they would protect her.

And he had believed them, like the fool he was.

" Pogue?" A soft voice sounded from the door, causing him to turn around. When he saw his fiancée, he gave her a tired smile. She moved towards him, pressing her lips against his in a small peck.

" Any change?" She asked, eyes quickly moving towards the fragile girl in the bed. Pogue shook his head, feeling the tears appear in his eyes. He tried blinking them away, but it was no use. Kate laid her hand on his shoulder, trying to think of the right words.

" She is strong, you know." She whispered in his ear. "She will be alright, she always has been."

" They didn't care about her." Finally, Pogue had spoken his problem out loud. " They were after me. She was just a way to get to me."

" It's not your fault, Pogue." Kate told him angrily. " I know you feel like you should have protected her, but there are some things that we just can't fight against. It…it's like saying it's your fault it is raining; you can't stop it, it's just nature."

" This isn't nature!" Suddenly Pogue was yelling. " This was an attack! They were trying to get her killed! If I had been here…"

"Then what?" Kate asked. "What would you have done? Would you have followed Rachel wherever she went? Would you have locked her up in her apartment? You can't possibly protect someone at every hour of the day. Tyler and Reid both were here, and neither of them was capable of protecting her. What makes you think you could have done anything about this?" Pogue turned around, looking Kate in the eye. Tears were streaming down his face and Pogue didn't even bother trying to hide them.

"I knew." He whispered. "I knew it was just a matter of time before they'd go after her. Especially when Reid and Lizzie broke up, she was our one weak link that was left. And still, I didn't come. I chose to go to school, to live the happy life, to forget all about Rachel's problems. Just like I did before. And just like before, she got hurt." And Kate didn't know what to say anymore. Because as much as it pained her to admit it, Pogue was right. They had all chosen the easy way: leave New York, go back to school and live the normal life, the life without evil warlocks trying to kill you. Instead of staying, to help Reid, Tyler, Lizzie and Rachel, they had left. And now they had to face the consequences.

* * *

><p><em>Kate laughed as Reece threw popcorn at the screen. Only ten minutes into the game, and it was already clear who was going to win, but still the boys refused to watch anything else. <em>

"_The tide can still turn!" Pogue had objected when Kate had grabbed the remote. "Our team can still win, they trained very hard this season."_

_Of course, no matter how hard a terrible team trained, they would still get beaten in every game they played, like they had been in the last five years. Kate turned to Amy, Reece's girlfriend and Kate's fellow-victim on game's night. _

"_Have you heard about Sammy?" She asked, knowing the boys wouldn't bother to listen to anything they said while the television was on. When Amy turned to Kate, she looked quit serious._

"_She called me last week, asking if she could borrow my notes."_

"_Did she say why she hasn't been coming to school?" Sammy, a sweet, twenty-year old brunette, hadn't been to school in a few weeks. She and Kate hadn't exactly been friends, but they had talked on occasion, and Kate was worried about her. _

"_Yeah. Apparently her mom's got cancer." Kate gasped. _

"_Oh no! Is it bad?" Amy nodded. _

"_They don't think she'll last much longer, but Sammy says she's praying for a miracle." Kate softly shook her head. _

"_Poor girl. Didn't her father die just two years ago?" Again Amy nodded. _

"_It was a hunting accident." She specified. "Apparently, he was hunting rabbits with some friends, when they accidently came across a wild boar. He and two other friends got hurt, but the fourth managed to kill the beast. They didn't get him to a hospital in time." Kate sighed softly, shaking her head again and thinking about why bad things always happened to good people. At that moment, the boys started to cheer and the girls realized that the living room wasn't the right place for such a conversation. Kate nodded towards the kitchen and the two girls left their boyfriends, who hardly seemed to notice their departs. _

"_Does Sammy have any other relatives?" Kate asked Amy, silently praying that the girl wouldn't be left completely alone. Unfortunately, Amy's answer didn't exactly improve Kate's idea of Sammy's situation. _

"_Just a younger brother. He's only fourteen." _

"_Poor boy." Kate whispered compassioned. "Why do these things always happen to people like Sammy? It's just not fair." _

"_Didn't Pogue's parents die about two years ago as well?" Amy asked curiously. Kate hesitated for a second and then nodded. _

"_Yeah. But they weren't very close. In fact, they had a pretty big fight just before their deaths." Kate started to feel a bit guilty, talking about her fiancées past like that, but gossip had always been in her nature, and it was hard to suppress that. _

"_What happened?" Amy was frowning, careful not to miss a word, and Kate couldn't stop herself. _

"_They were in prison when they died." She admitted, shocking Amy. Kate didn't wait for the next question. "For child abuse." _

"_Oh no." Amy whispered. "Did they beat Pogue?" Kate shook her head. _

"_No, just Rachel, Pogue's little sister. It was a big drama. Apparently, they had never wanted a daughter. Pogue found out, I think about a month before their deaths, and he moved out. He and Rachel went to live with the parents of a friend of Pogue's." _

"_Wow." Amy whispered, eyes wide. "Poor girl." Kate nodded in agreement, grabbing a glass out of the cupboard and offering Amy one as well. She accepted. "What happened after that?" Kate remembered everything that had happened and sighed softly. It was, after all, a pretty sad story. _

"_Pogue convinced Rachel to go to court, and Rachel's parents got locked up. It was a pretty….emotional time." Amy, immediately sensing there was more to the story and to curious to give up, continued her questioning. _

"_What do you mean?" Again, Kate hesitated._

"_Well… Pogue and Rachel had never really been close or anything. In fact, Rachel was pretty convinced Pogue hated her, which probably had something to do with her parents. Anyway, in our senior year she and Pogue made up. Only there were some guys at our school who always fought with Pogue and his friends, and they usually lost. So when they noticed Rachel was starting to get closer to us, they decided she was an easy way to get to them." Kate fell silent, trying to think of a way to tell her story. _

"_They attacked her?" Amy's voice was just above a whisper. Kate nodded. _

"_Yeah. Rachel, she loved running, so one day she was running home from school, and these guys attack her. At least, that's what I think happened. Rachel never really talked about it." Kate fell silent again, but when she saw Amy's curious look she continued. "She didn't get home that night. Pogue got worried, so he sort of organized an unofficial search party, and we tried finding her. Pogue and Tyler, one of Pogue's friends, noticed her schoolbag laying by the side of the road, close to the forest. So we went looking for her." Kate felt the tears appear in her eyes as she remembered that day. She had been there when they had found Rachel, and she had seen the condition the girl had been in. _

"_She was alive, right?" Amy asked, sounding a bit scared. Kate suddenly realized that Amy had never met Rachel. She tried to remember if she had ever said anything to the girl about visiting Rachel, but she couldn't remember. _

"_She was alive. The guys… there were three of them. And they…" Kate coughed, trying to get her voice back to normal. "They had raped her." She finally whispered. "They had raped her and beaten her and then they left her, unconscious, in the forest." _

_Both girls were silent for a second, Amy trying to take it all in and Kate trying to regain her voice. _

"_After that there were some other problems. The first days, Rachel didn't eat, didn't talk… she just sat in her room." _

"_Didn't you bring her to a hospital?" Amy asked confused. Kate shook her head. _

"_No. Her parents told Pogue that, and I quote, 'she's was just asking for attention'." Amy gasped. "Of course, we didn't knew they were beating her yet. Plus, Rachel didn't want to go either, so we just took her home. The father of one of Pogue's friends was a doctor, so we called him. Of course, he was pissed that we didn't take her to a hospital, but well… there wasn't much he could do about it." _

"_But she got better, right?" Amy asked hopefully, like a kid asking his mother if the fairytale would get a happy ever after. Kate shook her head slowly. _

"_She tried to kill herself." Amy gasped. "We found her just in time, and luckily one of Rachel's friends managed to staunch the bleeding. We got her to a hospital in time." Kate's spectator sighed in relief, and Kate felt relieve about finishing that part of the story. Of course, Chase's part remained untold. "Things actually got better after that." Kate said. "Tyler and Rachel started to date, and their both living in New York now, with Rachel's son Brian." Amy's eyes widened and Kate realized she forgot a part of the story. _

"_Right, almost forgotten. Rachel got pregnant." _

"_And Pogue's friend is the father?" Amy sounded disbelieving. "And Pogue didn't kill him?" Kate laughed. Everyone who had ever met Pogue knew he was protective of his loved ones, so Amy's question was very logical. _

"_Tyler's not the father." Kate grinned. And then her grin disappeared. Amy's eyes widened as she realized the truth. _

"_You've got to be kidding me." She whispered. "She's taking care of the kid of a rapist?" Kate lifted an eyebrow. _

"_Don't let Pogue or Rachel hear that. They love the kid. We all do. He's like a miniature, male version of Rachel." Amy slowly shook her head, and then seemed to realize something. _

"_That does explain that picture in the hall. I always thought it was Pogue's ex-girlfriend with whom he'd had a kid or something." Kate laughed out loud, unable to stop herself. _

"_Do you actually think I would dated a guy who impregnated another girl at eighteen and left her?" She laughed. "No way. If Pogue would have a son, he'd take care of the kid, I'm sure of it." _

"_KATE!" Pogue suddenly called from the living room. "Phone's ringing!" Apparently, Pogue didn't want to miss the game. Kate and Amy both rolled their eyes as Kate entered the living room, answering the phone._

_Pogue focused on the game, loudly cheering for his favourite player. Because of that, he felt to notice the look on Kate's face, that changed from amusement to horror in the blink of an eye. _

"_What's wrong?" Amy, who had seen it, sounded worried, and finally Pogue and Reece turned away from the television. _

"_Babe?" Pogue asked softly. "What's wrong? Who is it?" Kate was crying now, and Pogue could hear the guy on the other end of the line saying something. He immediately recognized the voice and started to wonder why he was calling. _

"_It's Reid." Kate whispered. "Rachel and Lizzie got in an accident." _

_Pogue was unable to say anything, a feeling of doom spreading through his veins. _

"_Are they okay?" Amy, who had never even met the two girls and only recognized the name of one of them, sounded worried. _

"_Lizzie's alright. They're just checking for a concussion." _

"_Rachel?" Pogue was unable to say anything else. Even though he already knew it was bad, he had read it in Kate's eyes, he still had to ask. _

"_She's in a coma." _

_Pogue only stared at her, unable to say anything. Reid called Kate's name, clearly wondering what was going on and Amy reached for the phone, knowing Kate wasn't capable of saying anything at the moment. _

"_Hello?" She asked. _

"_Who's this?" The voice didn't sound very friendly, but Amy was capable of forgiving the guy. _

"_It's Amy, a friend of Kate's. I don't Kate and Pogue are capable of talking at the moment." Kate was currently curled up in Pogue's arms, sobbing in his chest. The boy had yet to move. _

"_Can you tell them to get here as soon as possible? The doctors… they want to speak to her family, and well… Pogue's all she got." Amy could tell from his voice that he was a close friend of Rachel's as well. He sounded on the verge of crying. Thinking of family, she suddenly remembered what Kate had just told her. _

"_Rachel's son… is he alright?" Reid was silent for a second and when he answered he sounded a bit surprised, as if he couldn't see where that question had gotten from. _

"_Yeah… yeah, he's alright. He wasn't in the car with them." _

_Amy thanked him for calling and told him she'd get Pogue and Kate to call back as soon as they could. Reid hung up without saying another word, leaving Amy to stare at the couple on the couch, who seemed completely broken._

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><p><strong>Not my favorite chapter... but it will just have to do. Thank you, <strong>_TammLynn_** for reviewing. ****I will try to send you a preview for the next chapter as soon as I get around to actually writing it...**

__**So well, you know the drill: please review, yada, yada, yada... O right, and if anyone has a better idea for the title (which, in case you haven't noticed, has changed), please let me know. Spotlights just wasn't right anymore, so I had to change it, but I'm not entirely content with the new version.  
><strong>


	12. Chapter 11

**Awakening**

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><p>"Rachel!" It was nothing more than a whisper, and yet is sounded filled with urgency. "Rachel! Wake the fuck up!" Even though Rachel felt half-asleep, she still picked up one that one word.<p>

"Not polite." She muttered and someone groaned.

"Well, sorry about that! You've been asleep for _two weeks straight!_ So forgive me for getting a bit inpatient!" Finally Rachel woke up a bit. Her body felt weird, she realized, and she tried to move her arms.

* * *

><p>"Kate!" Kate spun around as she heard her boyfriend's enthusiastic cry. "Kate, look! She moved!"<p>

* * *

><p>"Two weeks?" Rachel muttered confused, feeling like she had a massive hangover. Or at least, she assumed this was what a hangover would feel like. She wasn't much of a drinker.<p>

* * *

><p>"You see?" Pogue cried out again. "Did you see it? Her hand moved!"<p>

* * *

><p>"Yeah! TWO WEEKS! Of course, I've been trying to get to you for a bit longer than that, but sheesh… you are stubborn." The voice sounded cranky… and a lot like Lizzie's.<p>

* * *

><p>"Easy, Pogue! Stop shaking her!" Pogue quickly took a step back, his eyes still wide from the discovery he had just made. His little sister was waking up…<p>

* * *

><p>"No! Rachel, whatever you do, do NOT open your eyes! You hear me? LISTEN TO ME! Don't you dare wake up now! I need you to know…"<p>

* * *

><p>"Pogue?" Tyler ran into the room, having heard the noise coming from it. "What's going on?" Pogue didn't answer, his eyes still focused on Rachel's right hand.<p>

"She moved." Kate replied softly. "She's waking up, Ty."

* * *

><p>"What do you mean?" Rachel muttered, trying to focus on the sound of Lizzie's voice. "I'm already awake. How else could I hear you? What do I need to know?"<p>

* * *

><p>Minutes past, and Rachel didn't move again. The joy was slowly seeping from Pogue's eyes and tears started to replace them.<p>

"I really thought…" He whispered softly, but he never got to finish his sentence.

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><p>The light shone too bright… way too bright. Rachel groaned, trying to lift her hand to protect her eyes, but she found herself incapable of doing so…<p>

"Rachel!" Pogue's voice cut through the haze surrounding her like an arrow cut through the air. Suddenly she was jerked up, off of the pillow and into someone's arms. "You're awake!" Rachel wanted to pull away, but she could hear the pain in his voice and couldn't bring herself to do it, even if he was hurting her.

"Pogue, hun, let her go. I think you're hurting her." Rachel was lowered back to the bed and finally she could see Pogue's face. He was looking a bit sheepish.

"Sorry." He muttered, but his regret didn't last long. He started to grin again. "But you're awake!" Rachel laughed softly and then she saw Tyler's face appearing above Pogue's shoulder.

"Ty!" Her boyfriend moved past her brother and carefully put his arms around her, clearly worried he might hurt her like her brother had done. He softly pressed his lips against her forehead and sighed softly. Rachel could hear both relief and bliss in that one sound and she felt herself calming. Although she still wasn't entirely sure what had happened, just the mere _presence_ of Tyler could convince her everything was alright.

Her dream started to come back to her, at least, some small details did. She remembered hearing something, or someone… But she just couldn't remember who or what. She closed her eyes, trying to bring herself back into that weirdness and a name flew through her head. Her eyes shot open.

"Lizzie!" Her sudden cry clearly surprised her three friends, she only just now noticed that Kate was there as well, but they quickly calmed again.

"Liz's alright, honey." Kate promised and Rachel frowned again, wondering why the other girl wouldn't be. Then she remembered she was in the hospital. Apparently, something had gone wrong. If she could only remember what…

"What happened?" She asked confused, confusing her friends as well. But before anyone could say anything, a nurse walked in, freezing as she saw her patient awake.

"Well!" She said surprised. "That's certainly a good development. If you two could please move for a second, boys, while I'll check our patient out…"

Rachel dutifully endured the nurses actions, although the light of the flashlight really bothered her, until she seemed satisfied.

"This is good." The nurse smiled. "You don't seem to have a concussion and you look well enough…"

"She doesn't remember what happened!" Pogue said, unable to keep his worries to himself any longer. The nurse turned to him for a second, then looked back to Rachel.

"Well, I guess that was bound to be expected. After all, it was a pretty traumatic experience. I'm sure it will come back in time."

"And what exactly was that traumatic experience?" Rachel asked, trying to sound as polite as possible, although the whole situation was kind of annoying. She wanted some answers!

Pogue, Tyler and Kate shared a look, and finally Tyler took a step forward, sitting on the side of her bed and taking her hand in his.

"You were in a car accident." He explained softly. Rachel's eyes widened, but she motioned for Tyler to continue. "You and Lizzie were going to the mall and you cabbie just… freaked, I guess. He drove straight into a truck." Rachel just stared at him in shock. Well, she thought, at least that does explain why they told me Lizzie was alright.

"What about the cabbie?" She whispered, almost too afraid to ask. From the corner of her eye, she could see the nurse hurrying out of her room. Tyler hesitated.

"He died, Rachel." Rachel turned around when she heard Kate's voice, facing the older girl with wide eyes. Although she had suspected it, it was a whole different thing to hear it spoken out loud.

"And Lizzie's alright?" Rachel asked, just to be certain.

"Just a headache." Pogue reassured her, although his voice suggested there was more to the story. "Don't worry about her." Rachel felt the wheels turning in her head.

"Was that cabbie one of them? Of the… what was it called, again? The Brotherhood?" Tyler and Pogue hesitated, while Kate nodded softly.

"We think so, yeah." Rachel went silent for a second and then decided to hit a new topic.

"Where's Brian? And the others? Are they here?" Kate started to smile.

"I'll get them." She replied happily. Rachel expected her to leave, but Kate only opened the door and whistled. Then she closed the door again, grinning broadly. "I'll whistle, they'll come running." She joked and Rachel laughed softly as Sarah and Reid ran through the door, practically jumping her as a greeting.

"RACHEL!" Sarah cried out, laughing happily, and Rachel couldn't help but laugh along. She kissed both of her friends on the cheek and gladly excepted Reid's hug. "We missed you." Sarah pouted and Rachel rolled her eyes, not even trying to dignify it with a reaction since Lizzie came in at that exact moment, carrying Brian in her arms.

Rachel extended her arms with a huge smile on her face. Lizzie laughed.

"I'd really like to tell myself that this is for me." She grinned, while placing Brian in the arms of his mother. The baby smiled innocently as he endured his mother's hug.

"Boat." He simply said, holding up the toy Reid had bought him a couple of days before. Rachel laughed, tears appearing in her eyes as she praised the toy, telling her son to be very careful with such a treasure. Brian seemed content and nestled in his mother's arms before pretending the boat could fly.

As her kid was lost in his own, magical world, Rachel turned to Lizzie and the two friends hugged each other.

"I think I dreamed about you." Rachel told her friend with a small smile on her face. For a second, the other girl seemed to freeze, but then she started to smile again.

"Really?" She turned around. "Take that, Tyler!" She laughed and turned back to Rachel. "So what did we do?" Rachel frowned, again trying to remember.

"We talked." She finally replied, the frown still frozen on her face. "You said something to me… something important… but I completely forgot!" She looked at Lizzie, studying the other girl's face and it was only because of the intense look that she noticed the change in her emotions. For just a tiny piece of a second, the girl looked scared. And then she was laughing again.

"Typical." She teased and Rachel found herself laughing again. "I tell you something about a life of death situation, and you forget about it!"

"How could you know what it was when it was Rachel's dream?" Kate asked amused and Lizzie sent her a cheeky grin.

"Well, my girl and I are just connected that way." She joked. The other's shook their heads, laughing softly, with the exception of Reid; he was still glaring at his ex.

"Did I miss anything?" Rachel turned to the doorway and started to smile when she saw Caleb in it, holding a teddy bear-shaped balloon in his hand. She laughed as he walked forward and pressed a soft kiss against her cheek. "Hey Rachel." He smiled.

"Hey, Cay." She replied, while he handed her the balloon. She looked up at it with a huge, almost childlike smile on her face.

"Oooh!" Sarah suddenly exclaimed. "That rhymes!"

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><p>It took another week before Rachel was allowed to leave the hospital, a week filled with visitors and worries about the Brotherhood and the musical, which now was only three weeks away. Sam had asked another singer, Nathalie, to take Rachel's place, but he had promised her that if she'd be back within two weeks, she'd still have her role. Tyler wasn't to happy about that promise, afraid Rachel would push herself to hard to try and reach that ultimatum, but Sam said he didn't really have a choice and Rachel couldn't blame him. But now, one week after she woke up, she was already working as hard as she could to get the final steps, songs and lines into her head. And she was absolutely sure she'd make it, especially since Lizzie had promised she'd help her.<p>

_Lizzie_. Rachel kept feeling like there was something off about the girl, although she couldn't put her finger on it. Lizzie had barely left her side since she had woken up and she kept staring at Rachel like…. Like something was supposed to happen. Something Lizzie didn't like. But every time Rachel looked her friend in the eyes, trying to finally figure out what was going on by reading the truth in her eyes, the girl turned away, making some comment about how terrible the hospital room looked, or how much she was in need of a shower. But whenever Rachel would say something to the line of 'you don't have to stay with me forever', Lizzie would immediately change the subject.

It had taken three days for Rachel to finally get a straight answer out of her friend. The answer had been logical, but still Rachel found herself unable to fully believe it. Lizzie claimed that she felt guilty about the accident, since she had been the one to suggest taking it. Then she was the one who could walk away without a scratch, while Rachel had come way to close to 'entering the other side', as Lizzie had put it. Of course, Rachel had immediately started telling Lizzie how ridiculous it was to think such a thing, but again Lizzie had simply changed the subject. This time, it was about how weird the curtains were.

The more Rachel came to think about it, the more she felt like Lizzie's strange behaviour in the last few weeks had been accentuated. Starting with Lizzie's separation from the rest of the group, then of course Lizzie's cheating and then the many arguments the girl had started. Rachel couldn't remember Lizzie ever acting like that before. Something was going on, and to make matter even worse; she felt like she already _knew_ what was wrong. It was like it was on the tip of her tongue, but just refused to be said out loud. Like you sometimes have with a word: You know you know it, you've used it thousands of times before, and yet you just can't remember what it was. It bugged Rachel, so much she felt like it was tearing her brains apart. But she didn't know how to name it. She had tried to talk to Tyler about it, but he had ended the conversation quickly, by saying she didn't need to worry and to 'just focus on the healing for awhile'. Although there were times she loved Tyler's over-protectiveness, this was not one of those times. Unfortunately, Tyler was one of those guys who's used to being right, and usually was as well, so convincing him to see it her way was hard. So hard that she eventually gave up on it, wanting to avoid the headache.

On a brighter note, however, Pogue and the others had decided to stay in New York for a while. Thanksgiving was only a few weeks away, so they had decided to skip school for a while to stay with Rachel, Tyler, Reid and Lizzie until the whole 'Brotherhood' problem was dealt with. Since none of them had been able to find a clue as to what their enemy wanted exactly or who they were, there was little left to do but waiting. Of course, Rachel hated the idea of some sort of impending doom, but she loved the idea of having her brother and friends close once again, especially now that Lizzie had been acting so strange in her eyes. She felt relieved with the idea of having some extra family around now that she felt like she needed it so badly.

Somehow, they always made her feel like some way, things could be alright. Even if their promises hadn't come true yet.

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><p>Rachel groaned softly as another guy was slayed on television. Even after all these years, she still hated horror movies. They were just so…bloody. She turned around, noticing the other's all laughing and she groaned again. It was just no fair… it was her welcome home party, why couldn't she pick the movie?<p>

Tyler, apparently picking up on her discomfort, put an arm around her shoulder and brought his head closer to hers.

"Wanna go to bed?" He asked her softly, and Rachel nodded gratefully, feeling relieved. She didn't have to finish the movie…

"NO!" Rachel nearly jumped from the couch when she heard Sarah scream. She turned to the television, expecting another corpse there that had frightened the blond girl, but that wasn't the problem as it turned out. "You can't go to bed!" Sarah cried out. "You've been asleep for two weeks straight! Don't you dare go to bed now!"

Rachel's heartbeat increased, until it was nearly pumping out of her chest.

Two weeks… don't you dare… Why did she have the strange feeling of a déjà-vu? She turned until she could see Lizzie's face.

"Rachel?" The girl asked confused. Rachel felt her legs loose their strength and she was starting to fall. "RACHEL!"

And then she knew. Everything she had heard, everything she should have remembered.

"You…" She whispered, extending one hand to Lizzie in an accusing gesture. But before she could finish her sentence, she felt the last of her strength leave her body. And she lost conscious.

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><p><strong>Shortest chapter in a while, but I hope you guys liked it anyway. Again, review=preview, and again I'd like to point out I really need those. I'm starting to feel a bit insecure about myself... Plus, I actually should be learning for my quiz about social studies right now, so see what I'm sacrificing for you guys! (not really though, I just really didn't feel like learning. And hey, I survived this far with<strong> **that mentality, so what's the worst that could happen right? RIGHT?)**

**anyway, PLEASE REVIEW? There have been about 40 visitors to the last chapter, and only ONE review!** **(for which I really want to thank TammLynn, I hope you liked the preview!) **

**Right, and I changed the title and summary... again. But this was the last time, I PROMISE!**


	13. The end

**I truly am sorry for this message, although I guess it was long over due. I promised an update at the beginning of this month, and yet, here I am, 25 days later, telling you there is not going to be an update. This is for two reasons. **

**I spent most of my last vacation writing the final chapter to this story. After two days work, I had about 6 pages. Normally, I right a complete chapter within 4 hours, just to help you see things in perspective. And then my computer crashed, meaning I lost everything, including all my schoolwork and…. The final, hell-to-write chapter. I guess I had been pushing this story for a while now, and it definitely isn't my best work, so I really don't feel like starting all over again. Again, I truly am sorry, especially since I once swore I'd never abandon a story, hating it to read one only to never learn the ending. **

**So here's the deal. Underneath this paragraph you will find the plot to this story. If there's anyone out there who would like to write it like a true chapter, please feel free to contact me, I have no problem with it. You can even change everything in this story you want, as long as you give me credit for my part. **

**I hope the plot will be to your liking and that you can forgive me for this. Honestly, I'd like to promise it'll never happen again, but that's sort of hard to promise. Although I probably should stick to my 'no sequels' rule from now on. **

**Anyway, I'm not sure what my next project will be. I will, however, add another one-shot to my story/one-shot series 'mistakes' (which, definitely, is a LOT better than this story). If you could check it out, I'd be really grateful. **

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><p>Rachel remembers what Lizzie told her while she was in a coma: Lizzie's spirit has been pushed out of her body, being replaced with the spirit of one of the brotherhood, who is currently controlling her body. Rachel tells her friends, but Lizzie runs away before they can take action. Reid, feeling guilty for breaking up with Lizzie and not realizing it wasn't really her, runs away as well, trying to find Lizzie, like he did last time she was kidnapped. He follows her body to the house of the brotherhood. As you might remember from chapter one, this house was booby trapped, so it takes Reid some time to get through. Then he attacks the brotherhood. The one controlling Lizzie pulls back his magic, to defend himself against Reid. Lizzie is freed, so Reid sends her back to her apartment, where she tells her friends what happens. The boys go out to save the day, locking the apartment with a spell to make sure no one can go out or in. This way the girls are save, while the boys try to save Reid, who, at that moment, is in dire need of help. His brothers arrive just in time and together they try to fight the brotherhood, determined to end the battle for once and for all.<p>

The fathers of the brotherhood reveal to be hundreds of years. They live from the power their 'children' give them and want to take revenge on the covenant. As it turns out, the original warlocks stole the power from the fathers, who in turn cursed them with aging rapidly every time they used. The fathers promise they'll leave the girls in peace if they boys give over their powers, but Caleb refuse, after which the battle continues.

The girls are waiting at home and Rachel is hugging Brian to her chest, silently begging for the boys to return in one piece. Suddenly, Brian's eyes open and they are black. Then Rachel's eyes turn black as well: Brian has given his power to his mother so that she can fight. Rachel leaves to defend her family, leaving the remaining three girls thoroughly confused.

After a long battle, the boys are shocked to suddenly see Rachel appearing out of nowhere, joining the fight with magical powers. Caleb realizes that they have to defeat the fathers to stop the sons, so that's what they do: and it works. The sons are confused, suddenly not knowing what to fight for anymore. They flee and Rachel drops down. Her body wasn't used to the magic and rejected it. The boys carry her home and for a second they are afraid that she will die, until Brian crawls to his mother and takes her hand. He takes back his magic and Rachel awakens. After some research, Caleb decides it was possible because Rachel was a Parry, and therefore had the ability to contain magic. Only her body wasn't used to it. Reid compares it to wearing a tie: making you feel like you're choking when you're not used to it, but not bothering you at all once you've done it for years.

The next day several murderers, who have been wanted for years, are suddenly arrested while stumbling through New-York like they had no clue where they were. They are recognized as members of the Brotherhood, which is now officially gone.

The scene ends and the story continues three months later: Reid and Lizzie's wedding. While the couple is sharing their first dance as husband and wife, Tyler takes Rachel's hand in his and kisses her engagement ring.

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><p><strong>So I think I covered everything with this. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. <strong>


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